American Government

by Glen Krutz, Sylvie Waskiewicz

American Government 3e aligns with the topics and objectives of many government courses. Faculty involved in the project have endeavored to make government workings, issues, debates, and impacts meaningful and memorable to students while maintaining the conceptual coverage and rigor inherent in the subject. With this objective in mind, the content of this textbook has been developed and arranged to provide a logical progression from the fundamental principles of institutional design at the founding, to avenues of political participation, to thorough coverage of the political structures that constitute American government. The book builds upon what students have already learned and emphasizes connections between topics as well as between theory and applications. The goal of each section is to enable students not just to recognize concepts, but to work with them in ways that will be useful in later courses, future careers, and as engaged citizens.

In order to help students understand the ways that government, society, and individuals interconnect, the revision includes more examples and details regarding the lived experiences of diverse groups and communities within the United States. The authors and reviewers sought to strike a balance between confronting the negative and harmful elements of American government, history, and current events, while demonstrating progress in overcoming them. In doing so, the approach seeks to provide instructors with ample opportunities to open discussions, extend and update concepts, and drive deeper engagement.

Genres: Nonfiction, Textbooks, Reference, School, History, Politics

726 pages, ebook

Published July 28, 2021

Reviews

[Letitia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is actually one of the best textbooks I've used. Covers all the most important information in a succinct and relatable way. Has great information in a format that is fairly easy to follow and explore. Also, huge props to any author that will make a text free on Open Stax. I highly recommend this to instructors.

[soda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had to read for my Gov't class. Informative, but obviously liberal - the book talks about socialism as an "alternative economic choice". Socialism is NEVER a good choice! Not to mention that they speak of Trump negatively and there are countless pictures of the obamas. Agenda much?

[Joah Pearson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just ok.

Mostly good info. Leftist bent.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

What I like about this textbook it can be obtained for free, thanks to the way that it is published by Rice University. That is a big deal. While I am an adult University student, I am also very low income. I am only able to attend my classes due to the generous funding by my state for persons with disabilities such as myself. This is my second time through college & I am not formally matriculated for degree at this time, I got my degrees, more than one of them, mostly back in the eighties and nineties. However back then I became intimately familiar with the scam that is higher education textbook publishing in America. I assure you there is absolutely no reason in the universe why more textbooks can't be published for free or, at the very least, at much lower cost than they are. I will be forever thankful to my professor in this class, Dr. Candace Halo, for choosing a free or low-cost textbook. I am normally thankful for myself but mostly for the other students in my class, most of former working while studying. Most of my classmates do not come from "well-heeled" families.
Another good thing about this book is that it is probably as up-to-date as any college textbook can be, given the necessary mechanics of how long it takes to revise, edit/proofread a manuscript, and lastly actually publish it.
All of that having been said, the textbook does seem to be organized in a rather strange way. Some of the chapters do seem to be structured oddly and ordered in the book oddly, or perhaps, that's just the way that Dr. Halo chose to use the book. We did do a lot of jumping around. However, the book itself does seem to jump around somewhat also. Actually if I were ever to meet Dr. Krutz there are a few questions that I would ask him about that. As an aspiring author myself, I found the sequencing of some of the material rather unexpected strange.

[katie xin · Rating 4 out of 5]

concise and neutral enough. it criticizes political figures on all sides. it doesn't denounce any economic systems ... it states their concepts and provides real-world examples. the book does not criticize fascism either. trump had barely been in office when this book edition was published (2017), so it makes sense that he is barely present. i recommend.

[Dan Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book, for anyone seeking a refresher course in how our system of government works! For me the greatest gift from reading American Government by Glen Krutz is the reminder of the genius of our Founding Fathers and of their creation, the Constitution of the United States.

[Ned Hanlon · Rating 3 out of 5]

We need a review? I don't know... it's... umm... a textbook?..

[Britt Muse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not too bad, for a textbook. Gave it an extra star because I love that it's free to download.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

boo college textbook

[Gary Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Textbook for my American Government class. Pretty good text book and you can't beat the price: free.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Take that, 650 pages.

[South Jersey Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book to learn the basics of American Politics

[Brindley Gable]

Had to use this textbook for an online class and ended up annotating the entire thing! Extremely helpful, and the practice questions at the end were amazing for studying

[Isaac S.]

I read it for school but i still read it