America's New Democracy: Election Update (Penguin Academics)

The new edition of this brief, highly affordable Penguin Academic Series book includes new discussions about midterm elections, the economy, and the 2003 Iraq War.

Written in a strong narrative voice and brimming with student-relevant examples, the second edition of America’s New Democracy provides a focused and stimulating treatment of politics in the United States. Illustrating popular influence across the political system in defense of a central theme―that elections matter more in America’s political system today than they have in the past or do in other democracies―the book challenges the pessimistic view that government seldom listens to ordinary people. America’s New Democracy encourages readers to see that in a system where votes are the main currency, both power and responsibility rest on the shoulders of all citizens.

• Inexpensive and brief, this book is an excellent foundation for professors who want to add supplementary texts, additional readings, or periodicals. 
• Coverage of hot topics in American political culture includes values-based conflicts over gay rights, the ongoing immigration debate, and bias in the mass media.
• Strong attention to civil rights and liberties, presents the most recent Supreme Court cases on issues such as affirmative action and the war on terror.
• Up-to-date coverage on public policy, including recent changes in social welfare policy and prescription drug coverage.
• In-depth coverage of important and often overlooked topics, includes discussions of unconventional participation, religion and politics, and linguistic minorities.
• A hallmark of text, completely up-to-date scholarship incorporates the most recent political science research available.
• Chapter-opening vignettes introduce the subject matter with high-interest issues such as Hurricane Katrina (Chapter 3) and the role of race and gender in the 2008 campaign (Chapter 15).
• “Election Voices” essays explore the various sides of important, current public policy debates on such topics as the constitutionality of the death penalty, arguments for and against restrictions on lobbying, and the complex matter of U.S. energy policy.
• “On the Web” list of links found at the end of each chapter directs students to pertinent web sites for further study.
• Chapter Summary, Key Terms, and annotated Suggested Readings are also found at the end of each chapter.

New to this Edition:

• Updated throughout to include results of the 2008 presidential election and coverage of key political events and issues of the last two years.
• Public opinion and the media are now treated in two separate chapters, for more complete and effective coverage of these distinct topics.
• Expanded! New Election Voices essays on the national drinking age (Chapter 3) and whether the government should enact a nationwide civics program (Chapter 5).
• Covers the most recent developments in American politics, including the ongoing issue of illegal immigration (Chapter 4);public opinion on the Iraq War (Chapter 5); the importance of the Internet as a news source (Chapter 6); the role of video sharing sites like “YouTube” and the blogosphere (Chapter 6); changes in the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Second Amendment guarantee of the right to bear arms (Chapter 14); and the implications of the recession of 2008 (Chapter 16).
• Several important topics have increased and/or updated coverage in this edition: traditional conceptions of democracy (Chapter 1); group differences in public opinion (new text material and figure in Chapter 5); the role of superdelegates in the presidential nomination process (Chapter 8); the power of parties in Congress (new text material and a figure showing that congressional parties are more unified today than a decade ago in Chapter 10); privatization as a means to control bureaucratic expansion (Chapter 12); and Supreme Court judges’ approaches to constitutional interpretation (Chapter 13).
• Features the most up-to-date political science research, such as Jane Mansbridge’s work on rethinking representation (Chapter 1) and Barbara Sinclair’s work on unorthodox lawmaking (Chapter 10). .
• Enhanced, interactive graphs and charts! The book’s already excellent figures have been improved with questions that inspire higher order thinking and analysis of the data.