By the People: Debating American Government, Brief Edition

by James A. Morone, Rogan Kersh

Challenge your students to ENGAGE in the conversation and process; THINK about the ideas, history, structure, and function; and DEBATE the merits of American government and politics in the 21st century.

In a storytelling approach that weaves contemporary examples together with historical context, By the Debating American Government, Brief Second Edition, explores the themes and ideas that drive the great debates in American government and politics. It introduces students to big questions like Who governs? How does our system of government work? What does government do? and Who are we? By challenging students with these questions, the text gets them to think about, engage with, and debate the merits of U.S. government and politics.

Ideal for professors who prefer a shorter text, By the People, Brief Second Edition, condenses the content of the comprehensive edition while also preserving its essential insights, organization, and approach. Approximately 20% shorter and less expensive than its parent text, the full-color Brief Second Edition features a more streamlined narrative and is enhanced by its own unique supplements package.
ENGAGE

* "By the Numbers" boxes containing fun facts help frame the quizzical reality of American politics and government

* "See For Yourself" features enable students to connect with the click of a smart phone to videos and other interactive online content

THINK

* Chapter One introduces students to seven key American ideas, which are revisited throughout the text

* "The Bottom Line" summaries conclude each chapter section, underscoring the most important aspects of the discussion

DEBATE

* "What Do You Think?" boxes encourage students to use their critical-thinking skills and debate issues in American government

* Four major themes, in the form of questions to spark debate, are presented to students in Chapter One and appear throughout the text

Genres: Nonfiction, Textbooks, Reference, History, Political Science, Education

510 pages, Paperback

First published August 2, 2013

Reviews

[k8reads]

Yes I am counting my college textbook as a book read. I didn’t read this version but it’s the only one I could find

[Ruth Dahl · Rating 3 out of 5]

read for school and I'm getting the goodreads credit on my reading challenge, dangnabbit.

Pretty basic overview of the branches and history of the U.S. Government. Not too boring. I might have liked the textbook more if my teacher this term had actually taught, ya know?

[Noah Mitchell · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bleh

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good for a textbook. It did a decent job of presenting different perspectives on the various topics (civil liberties, the federal bureaucracy, the three branches of government, etc.). The authors seem to write from center-left assumptions (especially evident in the material on the various civil rights issues).

[_Liebert · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. Started for a class which i had my final for last week; if I did well it was not at all thanks to this book. Don't care for it at all. Centrist bullshit, ie evilly phrasing sports discouse as "trans rights vs womans rights", and clearly has little interest in actual history as regards its whitewashing of most recent history of the past decades

[IV · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spent an entire semester reading about the entire system of American government and The Goldfinch is still the longest book I've read this year. Donna Tartt knew her impact was more important than our trade deficit, and who am I to deny it?

[Mari Santini · Rating 4 out of 5]

for political science class. actually learned a lot

[Stefán Sigmundsson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good introduction into US American society and politics.

[Lincoln · Rating 5 out of 5]

আমেরিকার রাজনীতি সম্পর্কে জানতে অবশ্য পাঠ্য

[Sophia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful textbook. It even has a phone number and a website link. Wonderful discussion of elections and campaigns especially discussing the 2016 Trump Election and the 2016 Trump Administration. Here are some who were in the pictures
Christopher Lee Simmons
Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.)
David Perdue

Edit: It was bizarre that in my intro to American politics course in university that the professor assigned a textbook of American government intro - there's a big difference between a American politics course and an American government course. A government course relies less on intuition and less on theory and less on abstraction, which means you have to deeply understand a small number of topics chosen like a free response exam/test, rather than a "inch deep, mile wide" approach of government course that uses multiple choice. However, I took a government course in high school, and though the politics course in university was 99% similar, I admit, I understand why this book was chosen over (a intro to politics) textbook. I think it is a big textbook, and could be shortened. I'm not saying it is better to cover less material, but I have read prep books (like AP US Government, Barrons, Princeton Review, Kaplan, Crash course, 5) and they tend to summarize it so you don't waste time.

[Savannah Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

As far as required text books, not mad at it. I’ll give it a 4 stars for not being completely dry, good and fairly objective. There was some dry humor tucked in to decipher too. I’ve been reading ahead to get up on my school and I’m not sure if this same company is supplying testing materials or if my professors stuff isn’t going well with this in the way of test translation. That is my biggest qualm and I can’t say it’s this book is the cause for that issue, it could very well be me. Out of all my text books I’m reading, or have read this year, this was the best.

[Mills College Library]

320.473 M868 2014

[Miranda · Rating 4 out of 5]

PLS 102: American Government & Politics

Greatest textbook ever