Keeping the Republic: Power and Citizenship in American Politics, The Essentials

Keeping the Republic draws students into the study of American politics, showing them how to think critically about “who gets what, and how” while exploring the twin themes of power and citizenship. The thoroughly updated Ninth Edition considers how a major component of power is who controls the information, how it is assembled into narratives, and whether we come to recognize fact from fiction. 

Table of Contents:
About the Authors Preface To the Student 1 POLITICS: WHO GETS WHAT, AND HOW? What Is Politics? Political Systems and the Concept of Citizenship Origins of Democracy in America The Evolution of American Citizenship Thinking Critically About American Politics 2 AMERICAN CITIZENS AND POLITICAL CULTURE Who Is an American? The Ideas That Unite Us The Ideas That Divide Us The Citizens and American Political Beliefs 3 POLITICS OF THE AMERICAN FOUNDING Politics in the English Colonies The Split From England The Articles of Confederation The Constitutional Convention Ratification The Citizens and the Founding 4 FEDERALISM AND THE U.S. CONSTITUTION The Three Branches of Government Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances Federalism Amending the Constitution The Citizens and the Constitution 5 FUNDAMENTAL AMERICAN LIBERTIES Rights in a Democracy The Bill of Rights and Incorporation Freedom of Religion Freedom of Expression The Right to Bear Arms The Rights of Criminal Defendants The Right to Privacy The Citizens and Civil Liberties 6 THE STRUGGLE FOR EQUAL RIGHTS The Meaning of Political Inequality Rights Denied on the Basis of Race: African Americans Rights Denied on the Basis of Other Racial and Ethnic Identities Rights Denied on the Basis of Gender Rights Denied on Other Bases The Citizens and Civil Rights 7 CONGRESS Understanding Congress Congressional Powers and Responsibilities Congressional Elections Congressional Organization How Congress Works The Citizens and Congress 8 THE PRESIDENCY The Presidential Job Description The Evolution of the American Presidency Presidential Politics Managing the Presidential Establishment The Presidential Personality The Citizens and the Presidency 9 THE BUREAUCRACY What Is Bureaucracy? The American Federal Bureaucracy Politics Inside the Bureaucracy External Bureaucratic Politics The Citizens and the Bureaucracy 10 THE AMERICAN LEGAL SYSTEM AND THE COURTS Law and the American Legal System Constitutional Provisions and the Development of Judicial Review Federalism and the American Courts The Supreme Court The Citizens and the Courts 11 PUBLIC OPINION The Role of Public Opinion in a Democracy Citizen Values What Influences Our Opinions About Politics? Measuring and Tracking Public Opinion The Citizens and Public Opinion 12 POLITICAL PARTIES Why Political Parties? Do American Parties Offer Voters a Choice? The History of Parties in America What Do Parties Do? Characteristics of the American Party System The Citizens and Political Parties 13 INTEREST GROUPS The Formation and Role of Interest Groups Types of Interest Groups Interest Group Politics Interest Group Resources The Citizens and Interest Groups 14 VOTING, CAMPAIGNS, AND ELECTIONS Voting in a Democratic Society Exercising the Right to Vote in America How America Decides Presidential Campaigns The Citizens and Elections 15 MEDIA, POWER, AND POLITICAL COMMUNICATION Where Do We Get Our Information? How Does Media Ownership Affect Control of the Narrative? Spinning Political Narratives Politics as Public Relations The Citizens and the Media Appendix Material Notes Glossary Index

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.

Review :
“The book is a concise read; has updated photos and images, plus a sizeable portion of historical images and events. This is a rounded book…The book does well by [integrating] a discussion of citizenship and its broader implication for the extant political culture.”  “The content is thorough and clearly broken into separate sections which convey concepts in a manner that students can focus on systematically…The ninth edition contains a tremendous amount of valuable information and I am excited about the extent of the content and the way the content is organized… The book’s updated theme of power and citizenship and the ways the control of the political narrative has been translated into political power and how it has shifted within the new social media is refreshingly timely.”  “I consistently recommend the book to [colleagues] who are teaching American government for the first time. It is easy to use, and it provides all of the basics that any student would ever need to know. It is easy for students to read, and it challenges their preconceived notions about the world...”