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We the People A Concise Introduction to American Politics

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ISBN-10: 0073403865

ISBN-13: 9780073403861

Edition: 7th 2008

Authors: Thomas E. Patterson

List price: $140.00
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Description:

This concise yet comprehensive book provides a positive, lively, future-oriented narrative introduction to American government and politics. "We the People" presents material with a currency and relevancy that captures the vivid world of real-life politics. In addition, the text challenges readers to think critically; by giving contextual understanding of major concepts and issues, it encourages them to think about the implications for society and themselves. "We the People" delves deeper into the basics than most brief books, and each of the 17 chapters (including 3 policy chapters) concludes with a reading selection (each from a different paper around the country) and an extensive…    
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Book details

List price: $140.00
Edition: 7th
Copyright year: 2008
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Higher Education
Publication date: 4/20/2007
Binding: Paperback
Pages: 816
Size: 5.75" wide x 8.75" long x 1.00" tall
Weight: 2.134
Language: English

Thomas E. Patterson is the Bradlee Professor of Government and the Press at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. For many years he taught at Syracuse University. He is the author of several other books on politics and the media, includingOut of Order,which won the American Political Science Association’s 2002 Doris Graber Award for the best book in the field of political communication, andThe Unseeing Eye,which was named one of the fifty most influential books of the past half century in the field of public opinion by the American Association for Public Opinion Research. He lives in Brookline, Massachusetts.

Preface
American Political Culture: Seeking a More Perfect Union
Political Culture: The Core Principles of American Government
America's Core Values: Liberty, Equality, and Self-Government
Politics: The Resolution of Conflict
Political Power: The Control of Policy
The Concept of a Political System and This Book's Organization
Summary
Key Terms
Suggested Readings
List of Websites
Politics in Theory and Practice
Additional Resources
What We Love about America
Constitutional Democracy: Promoting Liberty and Self-Government
Before the Constitution: The Colonial and Revolutionary Experiences
Negotiating Toward a Constitution
Protecting Liberty: Limited Government
Providing for Self-Government
Constitutional Democracy Today
Summary
Key Terms
Suggested Readings
List of Websites
Politics in Theory and Practice
Additional Resources
The Mischiefs of Faction
Federalism: Forging a Nation
Federalism: National and State Sovereignty
Federalism in Historical Perspective
Federalism Today
The Public's Influence: Setting the Boundaries of Federal-State Power
Summary
Key Terms
Suggested Readings
List of Websites
Politics in Theory and Practice
Additional Resources
The National Idea in American Politics
Civil Liberties: Protecting Individual Rights
Freedom of Expression
Freedom of Religion
The Right of Privacy
Rights of Persons Accused of Crimes
Rights and the War on Terrorism
The Courts and a Free Society
Summary
Key Terms
Suggested Readings
List of Websites
Politics in Theory and Practice
Additional Resources
A Constitutional Amendment to Ban Flag Burning
Equal Rights: Struggling Toward Fairness
The Struggle for Equality
Equality Under the Law
Equality of Result
Persistent Discrimination: Superficial Differences, Deep Divisions
Summary
Key Terms
Suggested Readings
List of Websites
Politics in Theory and Practice
Additional Resources
Letter from Birmingham Jail
Public Opinion and Political Socialization: Shaping the People's Voice
The Nature of Public Opinion
Political Socialization: How Americans Learn Their Politics
Frames of Reference: How Americans Think Politically
The Influence of Public Opinion on Policy
Summary
Key Terms
Suggested Readings
List of Websites
Politics in Theory and Practice
Additional Resources
The Iraq Syndrome
Political Participation and Voting: Expressing the Popular Will
Voter Participation
Conventional Forms of Participation Other Than Voting
Unconventional Activism: Social Movements and Protest Politics
Participation and the Potential for Influence
Summary
Key Terms
Suggested Readings
List of Websites
Politics in Theory and Practice
Additional Resources
Voter Participation and Electoral Competition
Political Parties, Candidates, and Campaigns: Defining the Voter's Choice
Party Competition and Majority Rule: The History of U.S. Parties
Electoral and Party Systems
Party Organizations
The Candidate-Centered Campaign
Parties, Candidates, and the Public's Influence
Summary
Key Terms
Suggested Readings
List of Websites
Politics in Theory and Practice
Additional Resources
GOP Has Lock on South, and Democrats Can't Find Key
Interest Groups: Organizing for Influence
The Interest-Group System
Inside Lobbying: Seeking Influence Through Official Contacts
Outside Lobbying: Seeking Influence Through Public Pressure
The Group System: Indispensable but Biased
Summary
Key Terms
Suggested Readings
List of Websites
Politics in Theory and Practice
Additional Resources
The Lobbying Game Today
The News Media: Communicating Political Images
Historical Development: From Partisanship to Objective Journalism
The Politics of America's News Media
The News Media as Link: Roles the Press Can and Cannot Perform
Organizing the Public in the Media Age
Summary
Key Terms
Suggested Readings
List of Websites
Politics in Theory and Practice
Additional Resources
To Publish, or Not to Publish
Congress: Balancing National Goals and Local Interests
Congress as a Career: Election to Congress
Congressional Leadership
The Committee System
How a Bill Becomes Law
Congress's Policymaking Role
Congress: Too Much Pluralism?
Summary
Key Terms
Suggested Readings
List of Websites
Politics in Theory and Practice
Additional Resources
Running for Congress, Staying in Congress
The Presidency: Leading the Nation
Foundations of the Modern Presidency
Choosing the President
Staffing the Presidency
Factors in Presidential Leadership
Summary
Key Terms
Suggested Readings
List of Websites
Politics in Theory and Practice
Additional Resources
Presidential Power
The Federal Bureaucracy: Administering the Government
Federal Administration: Form, Personnel, and Activities
Development of the Federal Bureaucracy: Politics and Administration
The Bureaucracy's Power Imperative
Bureaucratic Accountability
Reinventing Government?
Summary
Key Terms
Suggested Readings
List of Websites
Politics in Theory and Practice
Additional Resources
Hurricane Katrina: A Nation Unprepared
The Federal Judicial System: Applying the Law
The Federal Judicial System
Federal Court Appointees
The Nature of Judicial Decision Making
Political Influences on Judicial Decisions
Judicial Power and Democratic Government
Summary
Key Terms
Suggested Readings
List of Websites
Politics in Theory and Practice
Additional Resources
Judicial Interpretation
Economic and Environmental Policy: Contributing to Prosperity
The Public Policy Process
Government as Regulator of the Economy
Government as Protector of the Environment
Government as Promoter of Economic Interests
Fiscal Policy: Government as Manager of the Economy, I
Monetary Policy: Government as Manager of Economy, II
Summary
Key Terms
Suggested Readings
List of Websites
Politics in Theory and Practice
Additional Resources
Global Warming
Welfare and Education Policy: Providing for Personal Security and Need
Poverty in America: The Nature of the Problem
The Politics and Policies of Social Welfare
Education as Equality of Opportunity
The American Way of Promoting the General Welfare
Summary
Key Terms
Suggested Readings
List of Websites
Politics in Theory and Practice
Additional Resources
Welfare Reform
Foreign and Defense Policy: Protecting the American Way
The Roots of U.S. Foreign and Defense Policy
The Military Dimension of National Security Policy
The Economic Dimension of National Security Policy
A New World
Summary
Key Terms
Suggested Readings
List of Websites
Politics in Theory and Practice
Additional Resources
The Preemptive War Doctrine
Appendixes
The Declaration of Independence
The Constitution of the United States of America
Glossary
Notes
Credits
Index