Keeping the Republic: Power and Citizenship in American Politics, THE ESSENTIALS

Keeping the Republic′s lively discussion of ′who gets what and how′ develops studentsÆ critical thinking abilities in the intro American government course. Every section and every feature in the book has one goal in mind: to get students to think critically and be skeptical of received wisdom. Serving as a true aid to teachers, each chapter is designed to build students′ analytical abilities. By introducing them to the seminal work in the field and showing them how to employ the themes of power and citizenship, this proven text builds confidence in students who want to take an active part in their communities and governmentùto play their part in keeping the republic, and to consider the consequences of that engagement.

Table of Contents:
Contents Preface To the Student 1. Politics: Who Gets What, and How? 2. American Citizens and Political Culture 3. Politics of the American Founding 4. Federalism and the U.S. Constitution 5. Fundamental American Liberties 6. The Struggle for Equal Rights 7. Congress 8. The Presidency 9. The Bureaucracy 10. The American Legal System and the Courts 11. Public Opinion 12. Political Parties 13. Interest Groups 14. Voting, Campaigns, and Elections 15. The Media 16. State and Local Politics in a Federal System 17. Social and Environmental Policy 18. Economic Policy 19. Foreign Policy Appendix Material Notes Glossary Index Profile Sources Illustration Credits

About the Author :
Christine Barbour teaches in the Political Science Department at Indiana University, and directs the department’s IU POLS DC internship program. She is a faculty liaison for the University’s dual-credit program, which delivers an online version of her Intro to American Politics class to high school students across the state. At Indiana, Professor Barbour has been a Lilly Fellow, working on a project to increase student retention in large introductory courses, and a member of the Freshman Learning Project, a university-wide effort to improve the first-year undergraduate experience. She has served on the New York Times College Advisory Board, working with other educators to develop ways to integrate newspaper reading into the undergraduate curriculum. She has won multiple teaching honors, but the two awarded by her students mean the most to her: the Indiana University Student Alumni Association Award for Outstanding Faculty and the Indiana University Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists Brown Derby Award. When not teaching or writing textbooks, Professor Barbour enjoys traveling with her coauthor, blogging about food and travel, and playing with her dogs and cat. She contributes to Bloom Magazine of Bloomington and is a coauthor several cookbooks. She also makes jewelry from precious metals and rough gemstones. If she ever retires, she will open a jewelry shop in a renovated Airstream on the beach in Apalachicola, Florida, where she plans to write another cookbook and a book about the local politics, development, and fishing industry. Gerald C. Wright taught political science at Indiana University from 1981 until his recent retirement. An accomplished scholar of American politics, and the 2010 winner of the State Politics and Policy Association’s Career Achievement Award, his work includes Statehouse Democracy: Public Opinion and Policy in the American States (1993), coauthored with Robert S. Erikson and John P. McIver, and more than fifty articles on elections, public opinion, and state politics. Professor Wright’s research interests focus on representation – the fundamental relationship among citizens, their preferences, and public policy. He writes primarily about state politics, representation, political parties, and inequality. He is currently working on a book about parties and representation in U.S. legislatures. He has been a consultant for Project Vote Smart for a number of years and was a founding member of Indiana University’s Freshman Learning Project. In retirement, Professor Wright grows vegetables, golfs, fishes, travels, and plays with his dogs and cat. He is an awesome cook.