The Basics of American Politics

by Gary Wasserman

A lively, straight-forward approach to the basics of American Politics Written to engage students, and kept short to provide a flexible foundation for instructors, The Basics of American Politics covers all the terms and topics a student will need to understand the nuts-and-bolts of American government and politics. This title uses a dynamic game metaphor to engage students in the basics of the American political system and the contact sport of politics. Beginning with a clear definition of politics, it introduces four governmental and four nongovernmental players who must abide by the rules of the game established by the Constitution and civil liberties. It ends by examining rival theories of who wins and who loses in American politics. "

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, School

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

Reviews

[Haley S · Rating 3 out of 5]

I know I had to read this for school but I still count it as a normal book. But I am finally finished! Guess what that means?! This class is done! Yay!

[Christine Andersen]

Not gonna rate this because its a textbook, but it was whatever.

[Sandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

politics isn't my thing

[เนติวิทย์ โชติภัทร์ไพศาล · Rating 3 out of 5]

อ่านฉบับแปลไทยโดย ปราณี ทิพย์รัตน์และสิริพรรณ นกสวน
ช่วยทำให้เข้าใจการเมืองอเมริกาในระดับกว้างๆขึ้นอีกเยอะ
แต่เรื่องอย่างวิธีการเลือกตั้ง หรือการยกเหตุการณ์ที่น่าสนใจกรณีต่างๆดูจะน้อยไป

[Holly · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you are needing a political science book that has current issues then this book is out of date. I had to read for a political science class. It was interesting but starting to get out of date.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

While outdated (9th ed published in 2000, this review from 2011) this book contains a lot of good information for anyone studying U.S Politics in a coherent, concise, easy-to-read manner. Aimed at young college aged readers, this text provides lots of small excerpts that give examples as well as keeping the reader's attention while drawing connections between the information of the text and the "real world."

The outdated portion of this text is mostly limited to its context as being written while President Clinton was in office, which results in a lot of examples being contextualized in his presidency. This is nonetheless informative for all that it is over a decade old, especially for anyone interested in this era. Other odd portions crop up which are more humorous than providing misinformation; references to the internet which were written at a time when less people knew a lot about it for instance made me smile. This edition should be fine for anyone wishing to learn more about this topic.

[Public Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

A nice college-level primer on the function/dysfunction of American government. This book does a nice job of identifying the players and rules of the game in our democracy. My edition is a little dated - it doesn't have anything past the 2004 election... but I really enjoyed the author's dispassionate characterization of the Bush years. I'd recommend this volume to anyone wishing to brush up on how the American republic works these days.

[Anton Dubrovskiy · Rating 4 out of 5]

An old book (my edition was published in 1976) about American Politics. Nice explanation about the branches of the government, rules of "the game", and the way politicians break these rules over time. Surprisingly, having read this book, I've read "Democracy under pressure" which is a substantially bigger book published in 2005. Not much changed since 1976...

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this no-nonsense approach to the basics of the political machine. It provides some current applications of the text, and also provides examples of how the system doesn't necessarily abide by what our "forefathers" intended.

[Catherine Hudson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had to read this for a class. It's much better than most textbooks, and it helps that the text is up-to-date. But the material was still a little dull.