Politics in America: Texas Edition

With a focus on competition for resources, this balanced, but provocative text uses Harold Laswell's classic definition of politics–“Who gets what, when, and how”–as a framework for presenting a clear, cohesive and stimulating introduction to the American political system.

 

Thomas Dye, along with new co-author Bartholomew Sparrow, has written a lively and absorbing narrative examining the struggle for power that is American politics: the participants, the stakes, the processes, and the institutions.  Numerous feature boxes explore timely issues, draw cross-cultural comparisons, promote critical thinking, and provoke thoughtful opinions.  The Texas Edition of this classic text includes the same coverage as the comprehensive version, but includes 7 additional chapters on Texas politics. 

 

With the intense political conflict of the most expensive presidential campaign in American history and the hotly-contested primary campaigns that led to the national conventions in 2008, Politics in America’s theme of the constant competition for power and resources–“who gets what”–has never been more relevant.

Features:

• “What Do You Think?” boxes compell students to think critically about American politics by presenting them with a controversial issue and asking them to take a stance. After forming their opinion, students can look at the results of public opinion polls to compare their views with the rest of the country.

• “A Conflicting View” boxes challenge students to rethink the idea of a “conventional wisdom” in American politics by presenting them with views on important topics that clash with popular opinion. Designed to be controversial, these boxes get students thinking about the “push and pull” of American politics.

• “Politics Up Close” boxes present a close examination of the key topics in each chapter by focusing on those involved in the competition for resources. Topics include “The Christian Coalition: Organizing the Faithful” and “The American Civil Liberties Union.”

• “People in Politics” boxes personalize American government by showing students that American political figures are real people with real backgrounds. These profiles of both historical and contemporary figures focus on their college experience, how they became involved in public life, and how they were able to impact American politics.

• “Compared to What?” boxes encourage students to think about American politics in a global context by comparing American political processes and practices with those of countries around the world.

• “Across the USA” maps summarize important statistical and demographic information, giving students an idea of how critical issues in American politics affect and are viewed by all fifty states.

• “A Constitutional Note” plus Annotated U.S. Constitution. Citizens and policymakers  alike have become increasingly distressed by college graduates’ lack of knowledge of the U.S. Constitution. To address this concern, Politics in America includes both the “A Constitutional Note” feature, which discusses a constitutional issue raised in each chapter, and an annotated U.S. Constitution, which offering deeper insight into the complexity and historical connotations of this landmark document.

 

New to this Edition:

 

A new feature, “Controversy,” gets students engaged with some of the most provocative issues in American politics and encourages them to debate the issues. Topics include: “The Supremacy Clause: Marijuana for Medical Use?” “Abortion: The ‘Hot Button’ Issue,” “Should Violence Against Women Be a Federal Crime?” “Which Party Does a Better Job?” and “Are We One Nation “Under God?”

New“Who Gets What?” chapter summaries recap the most important concepts and details of each chapter, presenting them in the context of the book’s theme―that American politics is truly a study of “who gets what, when, and how.”

New topics in the Eighth Edition include:

• The battle for the White House between Barack Obama and John McCain
• The bitter and prolonged Democratic primary fight between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama
• The origins of the war in Iraq, the growing opposition to the war, and strategies for exiting the war
• Each chapter now begins with a quote from Harold Lasswell relating that chapter’s topic to the theme of politics as “who gets what, when, and how.”

New topics in other existing features include:

• What Do You Think?
  • Should We Call a New Constitutional Convention?
  • Should Government Leaders Pay More Attention to Public Opinion?
  • Which Government Does the Best Job?
  • Does Immigration Help or Hurt America?
  • When Should the United States Use Military Force?
• Politics Up Close
  • Barack and Hillary in the Democratic Presidential Primaries
  • The Appeal of the Democratic and Republican Parties
  • 60 Minutes, News as Entertainment,
  • The Oprah Effect
  • Washington’s Most Powerful Lobbies.
• People in Politics
  • John McCain
  • Barack Obama
  • Hillary Clinton
  • Ben Bernanke
  • General David Petraeus