Textbook Review - Political Science

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Textbook Review - Political Science

Is your review about a textbook in Political Science? If yes, then you are at the right forum; otherwise, kindly post the review at the appropriate forum. Please, give the title, edition, author, ISBN (if possible) and course title in your review.

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Jillson, Calvin C. American Government: Political Development
Jillson, Calvin C.  American Government: Political Development and Institutional Change. New York: Routledge, 2009. Print For a beginning textbook, this one is not bad. The author really tries to present an unbiased view of the US government in this textbook. For the most part, he does a fairly good job, but sometimes you can see his bias.  There are many chapters that conclude with a suggestion for reforming the government, and these tend to be slightly to the left of a center.   One thing that was somewhat strange was that he compared the U.S. Democracy to those in Europe, which are structured differently.  He seemed to show that indicate that European governments were able to deal with certain social issues better. Overall, this was not a bad textbook and  found this textbook an enjoyable read… for a textbook. However, some current developments such as the Tea Party movement were not covered in this edition.
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Vig, Norman J.,. Green Giants?: Environmental Policies of US an
 Vig, Norman J., and Michael Faure. Green Giants?: Environmental Policies of the United States and the European Union. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2004. Print. The United States was for many years a leader in environmental policy.However, this role is being supplanted by those of the European Union. It is important for students of environmental policy to get a global perspective.  Both the U.S. and the Europe face the same problems in environmental regulation. There are different governmental structures in the U.S. and the European Union. However, the aspects of federalism in both are similar. This book is appropriate for upper level and graduate courses in environmental policy where there are small classes encouraging discussion.
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I Have Read Jerusalem 1913
Text: Jerusalem 1913: The Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict by Amy Docker Marcus, ISBN 0670038369 Course: The Case for Justice Between Israel and Palestine Jerusalem 1913 is a short text about the development of the Israel-Palestine Conflict. This book was used in the course The Case For Justice, which was an Honors Seminar on the same topic. When a student first sees this book, he will realize that it is very different from traditional textbooks because it was not written in technical fashion and is bound like a regular fiction or nonfiction book. For most readers, this means that the book is much easier to read, understand, and remember. In addition, this book is also much different from other books and articles on the topic because it seeks to describe the conflict from a historical look at the city of Jerusalem rather than at political or religious differences between the groups. Of course, the book still addresses these at some point but the author relates them in a new context. This not only proves the author to be an intelligent, independent thinker but also makes the book more readable because it is not repetitive content compared with other relevant texts.
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Some Light Reading: The Iron Cage
Text: The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood by Rashid Khalidi, ISBN 0807003085 Course: The Case for Justice Between Israel and Palestine The Iron Cage is another nonfiction reading specified for the course The Case for Justice. This book focuses on a more commonly reviewed time period for this conflict: The British Mandate between 1920 and 1948. Although the preface was incredibly difficult to read, the rest of the book managed to read fairly well. The content is not so different from other books of the type. However, the book gives the student a chance to see the conflict from the Palestinian perspective, something that does not show up in American journalism or politics very often. In addition, this book shows the reader seemingly ridiculous historical occurrences that otherwise are ignored. One of this is the fact that the Jewish state was built from a minority, while the Arab majority became Immigrants and refugees in a geographical area that they dominated. Although this seems improbable, the book examines just what political, social, and religious situation had to be present for the unlikely to become reality.
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George Lakoff's Moral Politics
Two themes dominate George Lakoff’s Moral Politics: strict father and nurturing parent morality.  Lakoff’s approach ties fundamental family traits to the wide political realm to show how the family is the single greatest influence on an individual’s politics. One moral system gives rise to conservatism, the other to liberalism, and both to highly contested aspects of modern politics that are grounded in very different, elaborate theories. Strict father morality, which I will shorten to SFM for simplicity’s sake, is the family system in which a central father figure has absolute, legitimate authority. This power allows the father to inculcate in his family the values of his moral system, which perpetuates the practice in the next generation. The most basic aspect of SFM is the idea that to be morally strong is to work hard and prosper, thus explicitly stating that those who fail deserve their low status as a result of immorality. The fault does not lie, as some suggest, in social causes, because everyone has the ability to “just say no.” Such a view leads believers of SFM (ie, conservatives) to deride social programs because they only support the weak rather than encourage them to work hard and succeed for themselves just like the more fortunate have. Moral integrity leads to ambition, which in turn creates the mindset that one should strive to obtain everything they can, and any attempts to punish such actions undermines the rewards and punishments ideal upon which SFM is based. Conservatives, accordingly, balk at at-large government and restrictive legislation that limit their success or, through taxes, actually punishes them. It is this belief, along with the idea that people are responsible for their own triumph or failure, that establishes a meritocracy in which there are necessarily very sharp class distinctions. At the opposite end of the spectrum, nurturant parent morality (again, for simplicity’s sake, shortened to NPM) rejects the system of rewards and punishments in favor of compassion and cooperation. In this way, competition is limited and more positive approached embraced. It is the concept of fair distribution that replaces the moral order as the fundamental tenant of NPM. Equality of distribution (“one child, one cookie”), rights-based fairness (“you get what you have a right to”), and need-based fairness (“the more you need, the more you have a right to”) all assume the position that everyone is given equal opportunity to succeed and reap the benefits of that success, and while there is no specific ideology against the conservative work ethic, those who are most in need are necessarily given more, and those who have a right to more are of course given more. In political terms this, along with the NPM focus on empathy, leads to the liberal welfare system. One of the dividing lines between the two moral systems is the role of happiness in people’s lives. In SFM, happiness is merely an end to the rewards and punishments system. Self-discipline (and necessarily self-denial), along with hard work and moral upstanding, may bring about happiness, but that is merely a consequence of following the ideal SFM lifestyle. In NPM, however, the search for happiness is a moral purpose in itself. The dichotomy, however, strange it may seem, is explained rationally by two very different moral perspectives. Under SFM, one is expected to be strict and obedient, whereas in NPM, people are expected to look after not only others’ welfare, but their own as well. One who denies oneself is also more likely to deny others their happiness, and so a crucial component of NPM is to provide happiness for oneself so that one might be more able and motivated to help one’s peers to achieve as much. I would be hesitant to disagree with Lakoff. Ironically, his argument for SFM uses a far better array of evidence and reasoning, but the points he makes to attack that same system are devastating, especially those regarding abortions. Although his argument for the Nurturant Parent side is rather weak at times, especially when compared to the Strict Father system, simply bringing to light some of the most negative effects of SFM is more than enough to prove his point. Without doubt, Moral Politics reasserts the family’s position as the single most influential socializing agent in society. By his reasoning, the way that a family operates and imparts its values on the children cannot be overemphasized in its importance. Lakoff presents valid, well-written arguments for both sides. Unfortunately, the author’s personal bias interferes with an otherwise objective study, in that he portrays Strict Fathers as remorseless demons and Nurturant Parents as the saintly saviors of humanity. The book probably would benefit from a less skewed look at differing views. That particular Mar aside, Moral Politics provides in-depth looks at the two very distinct moral systems that drive American politics. As a liberal myself, conservative policies and their insensible hatred of other partisan groups have always baffled me. Lakoff explains the standard conservative mindset in a way that renders them no long as alien to me as they once were. While I still don’t agree with political conservatism, at least I can understand and appreciate its very intricate network of interconnecting morals. Despite trends in the United States to move the country toward liberalism, SFM has prevailed practically since the nation’s founding.
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Review of James Morone's Hellfire Nation
James Morone’s Hellfire Nation drives home the point that America has always been, and likely will always be, a nation that believes in “us versus them.” From the Puritans’ first days to the modern war on drugs, Morone shows how every major social movement in American history, almost all of which went against accepted societal norms, were met with fervid opposition, who inevitably labeled the acts as immoral processes that would derail the American dream. The movements may have changed over time, but the fact remains that we still tend to persecute rather than celebrate that which is different. Hellfire Nation is not a one-culture book. On the contrary, it teems with life from all sectors: the poor and the elites, abolitionists and slave holders, Puritans and progressives, WASPs and other immigrants, all to relate how America has benefited from being a land of varying cultures and classes. As is shown time and time again, however, mainstream America is still very much a one-culture nation. Revolutionary reformers always emerge from the underprivileged: women, blacks, immigrants, and the working class. Sadly, very little has changed in three hundred years; the morally righteous are still white, well-off Christian men. The cause of much of this vehement refusal to accept others’ culture, Morone implies, may be a kind of identity crisis. Disregarding Native Americans (as we so often have and continue to do), there is no such thing as a full-blooded American. Perhaps several hundred years from now that may change, but the country is still too young to have an authentic heritage. Even three centuries after the fact, ask an American about their ancestry and you’ll always hear the same names: English, Scottish, Irish, French, German, Italian, every country except one. When asked about heraldry, no one ever says they’re strictly American. The result is the haunting question that Morone brings up time and again: who are we? The depressing answer is that we still do not know, and what is worse is that seemingly the only way to reach a conclusion is by ruling out what is definitely not “American.” …The Puritans’ Indian wars offer one prototype for American race politics: this other could be kept apart—segregated on the frontier, steered into special villages, or sold into slavery. Europeans enforced the segregation by violence and justified it by imagining moral danger to a God-fearing people. This time, a vividly different tribe defined the Puritan community by showing its members what they must avoid becoming. That boundary, built of race and morals, would always haunt theUnited States. The people who found themselves by segregating others would prove to beAmericaat its most illiberal, Americans at their most deeply un-American. (Morone 82) The “Puritan quest,” according to Morone, has always and likely will always be the absurdity that is “mutual love within the community, expulsion for anybody who might be contrary minded” (Morone 41). Rather than try to embrace those differences, we instead have always seen fit to treat any deviation from the norm as an attack on our moral foundation. “Political life,” says Morone, “constantly gets entangled in two vital urges—redeeming “us” and reforming “them” (3). Hellfire Nation serves as a vivid example of what the conservative system can do in a real society.  As quoted by Morone, John Winthrop asserted that “God almighty” has ordained that “some must be rich, some poor, some high and eminent in power and dignity, others mean and in subjugation.” Although there is an admonishment for the rich who prey on the poor, “the poor and despised” should not “rise up…and shake off their yoke.” Morone draws the appropriate conclusion: “Men must defer to their leaders, servants to masters, women to men” (35). Just as conservatism mandates, proper obedience in society is the product of a proper upbringing. “‘The evils that abound among us’ always seem to ‘proceed from defects as to family government.’ Social disorder, rapid change, and cultural confusion all provoke the ancient quest for the ‘biblical family,’ for godly male authority” (Morone 106). Likewise, the innocent must be protected from the “others” who seek to tempt them to misdeeds. It is a legacy that Morone says has stayed with Americans from the very beginning, the need to root out and stop all “immoral others” that would destroy our very moral society. …The Puritans backed up self-control with institutional power. The church would teach, censure, and save; the state would root out and punish sinners. Through the years, American government would remain in the business of moral discipline…Future generations would forbid interracial marriage, ban birth control, outlaw homosexual acts, and jail men who crossed state lines with immoral fancies. When present-day policy specialists recommend backing off the war on drugs, they hear a familiar retort: the state must send a strong moral message to our children (66). Seemingly every fringe group in American history has at some point been the subject of intense persecution. Morone suggests just a handful for instance: “Savage Indians, satanic witches, Irish priests, Mormon polygamists, slave traders, saloon keepers, smut peddlers, drug pushers, Internet providers, and generations of black men” have all been accused of hurting our American ideal (2). One of the most interesting movements in the book is among the first, the “Antinomian heresy” of Anne Hutchinson and her followers. The Puritans, as strong believers in conservative ideals, were already ill at ease at the idea of a female preacher; women were to subjugate themselves to men under both the moral and political order. Hutchinsonis especially interesting, given that it was probably what she preached that most bothered the established hierarchy. Her sermons encouraged people to return to the basic tenants of Calvinism, which preached that man’s fate was determined at creation, and that no amount of earthly deeds could change that. She was not only breaking the mandate that ordered people to accept their given positions in life, she was threatening the actual foundation upon which New England was built. Suddenly all the self-righteous clamoring of the ministry was completely useless. “The jeremiads, the elaborate Puritan rules of conduct, the entire framework of the holy commonwealth were all useless, even heretical” (Morone 57). It is during this conflict that New England began to follow in the footsteps of the country it had just fled, for the very same reasons: as Morone points out, “New Englandelites were busy transforming what had been a mechanism of protest into the official faith of a powerful establishment. They were organizing the machinery of authority” (58). It would leave a lasting impression on American religion and politics. “The moral rules reinforce civic order, social status, and political power…The orthodox see immutable laws that fix good and evil in a divinely appointed frame…The progressives…find grace turning on personal, subjective, ethical norms. The two perspectives have taken turns as the establishment and the rebellious” (67). Another of Morone’s most interesting essays is on the Puritan attack of witchcraft. The most logical reason for the sudden burst of irrationality suggested is that “a dynamic society outgrew its social and political institutions. The witchcraft frenzy came, in part, from an urge to force secular problems into a moral frame” (82). While the witches “offered the Puritan leaders exactly what every other looming enemy offered them—a shared identity, a renewed mission for a floundering people,” (87) this enemy was “invisible and powerful” and “lurked everywhere.” Additionally, “Indians could be segregated, even slaughtered, without disrupting Puritan communities; but witches were neighbors, wives, and sisters.” It was such a bitter crusade that the “Puritan moral framework” collapsed on itself. Worse still, future generations would not learn from this experience, only repeat its mistakes. “They would also try to pin social tensions on hidden, immoral villains…[and] abandon their own inconvenient legal norms in a clumsy rush for justice” (83). “The witches offered the Puritan leaders exactly what every other looming enemy offered them—a shared identity, a renewed mission for a floundering people” (Morone 87). The simple truth of the matter is that almost all the accused witches were women. Carol Karlsen, as summarized by Morone, suggests that the reason for this lies in the fact thatNew England’s entire political order, to progress from generation to generation, relied on male inheritance. Most ofNew England’s supposed witches “were women who had inherited estates, disrupting the ‘orderly transmission of property from one generation of males to another’” (95-96); clearly this could very easily disrupt the sexual hierarchy imposed by the moral order. Once again, women who existed outside the social “norms” were persecuted as different, disobedient, or downright immoral. By far the most interesting of Morone’s explorations, at least in my opinion, is his examination of the Great Awakening in the first half of the 19th century. Four distinct moral innovations arose over and over in various sermons. Once and for all, Calvinism as it had always been known was thrown aside, and people instead embraced the idea that anyone could be redeemed through enough faith. They also pushed for personal responsibility for salvation; in other words, “no frowning clergyman would render judgments about God’s intentions” (Morone 127). Religion pushed into the popular sectors, through such acts as discarding formal church music and Latinate sermons in favor of a more personal, dynamic experience. Lastly, preachers told of the virtues of personal discipline in sobriety, piety, and hard work, which simultaneously served to “negotiate the transition to industrial capitalism” that was rapidly emerging. “Inculcating personal virtues helped break the inefficient habits of an artisan and farm community—the lunchtime rum, the spontaneous vacation, the afternoon off. Christian discipline would bend workers to the regulated, clock-driven monotony of mill and factory” (127). The end result, or at least the one most indebted to the Second Great Awakening, was the abolitionist movement. Abolitionists “simply redirected all that moral energy by lifting the fight against slavery above the crowd of righteous causes. They transformed slavery into the nation’s greatest mortal sin” (Morone 144). Yet again it became an “us versus them” issue of morality battling immorality, but the interesting turn in this case is that there is no clear definition for what is right and what is wrong. Much like Morone, I find it hard to believe that America will always be a volatile powder keg of emotion as far as morals are concerned. We can blame the Puritans if we want, and surely they are at least partly responsible, but the primary reason is most likely because as stated earlier, we still have not determined who we are, what we are made of, what makes an American just that. The only safe way to understand who we are, is by deciding what we are not. It is a determination that changes with each generation, but just as Morone asserts, we have always been and will remain Puritans all.  
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Political Science Book Review
In my part of the world, the book having more sanctity in the field of political science is "Constitutional History of Pakistan". It is written by a famous historian named as Hamid Khan. It is taught at many universities and colleges as the main course book, and it is used at many places as a reference book. The book has all the information regarding the history of Pakistan, and it is an unbiased kind of book. Constitutional History of Pakistan is a book based on facts. It doesn't discuss the constitutions of Pakistan in general though they are also discussed. The book is mainly based on the history of Pakistan regarding its creation, and the problems faced by the country during different reigns. It discusses the reasons of dictatorships in Pakistan as well as different good and bad habits of rulers in different times. Constitutional History of Pakistan is a detailed book on the political environment of Pakistan. One can learn about the various good and bad habits of people in power that way. That book also shows the greed of different people for gaining power. They are now history, and they are worth reading for learning lessons in the positive way.
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The Democratic Debate By: Miroff
I truly hate politics and I hate reading about them more, and it seems that in every history class and every political science class we spend half the time arguing. This book was an easy read that showed varied opinions so everyone’s argument was (usually) supported, and class went smoother. It focuses on the differences between what they call popular Democrats and elite Democrats. Popular Democrats are more leftist who look out for human needs, and they believe everyone deserves a say in politics, and elite Democrats support big business and believe that the typical people should follow experts and elites in running the country. This book is smaller but really thick, and the writing is small., I had to wear reading glasses when I usually do not. It is well-written and entertaining enough; you can get through a chapter in about forty-five minutes. It does offer many viewpoints to work with and therefore, writing papers from it is extremely easy. I suggest just reading through the chapter the vocabulary and reviews do not seem too helpful at all. I deceived to sell this book right away because I see no real use for it in my future.
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Democracy for the Few: Parenti
Reading about politics is just about as interesting to be as reading the phonebook (yuck), and this book did not help with that problem at all. I decided to buy the nook study version to save money and backpack space, which was a huge mistake.  I also wish my teacher chose another book. This book is a hard read; I would find myself staring at the same page for an hour or more. I also found the organization of this book horrible; it was really hard to sting a timeline together of when things actually happened from this book. It does not even highlight the vocabulary words, and has no reviews to follow. The index in credibly small so finding relevant information is difficult. If you are lucky, you will not have to write any papers using this book as research. Since I only rented this book for nook study, I did not keep it after the course, however I can say long textbooks are hard to read on a computer screen. Highlighting important material was nearly impossible and the program kept losing my bookmarks. If you did buy this  book, I suggest selling it the minute you do not need it anymore just to get it out of your hair.
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Political Science Textbook

Cases in Comparative Politics (Third Edition) Patrick H. O'Neil, Karl Fields, Don Share

This is one of the two books used in my Comparative Politics class. I think that this book works really well for a beginner level Political Science class.  It can be a little dry at times, but it does not bother me because I appreciate the lack of fluff in the book.  It breaks down individual countries and their political systems into the simplest way that they can be and it is easy to follow and understand the material.  I would recommend this textbook for a class.  However, depending on how in depth a student or professor is intending to go in the class, this book alone may not be suitable for the class.  The book lacks discussion on the cultural aspects of nations, which is important because it deeply affects the organization of certain states.  But, this book accomplishes what it sets out to do: lay down a bare bones foundation of the political systems of a multitude of nations.  It is not the most interesting text on the market, but I appreciate it for its straightforward approach which I finds simplifies a potentially complicated subject.

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Political Science Textbook

Essential Readings in Comparative Politics (Third Edition) Patrick H. O'Neil (Editor), Ronald Rogowski (Editor)

This book is used in my Comparative Politics class in conjunction with Cases in Comparative Politics (Third Edition), which I previously reviewed.  This is a supplemental type of textbook and it would be difficult to achieve a full scope of the subject from just this textbook.  I find the topics discussed in this textbook to be very interesting.  Many of them provide a different perspective on contemporary political issues, often from a cultural perspective.  The readings in this textbook are of a manageable size, that is, of course assuming your professor does not assign multiple readings in a short time period.  The book also handles the subject of religious views intertwining with the roles of the state from an objective standpoint.  In fact, all issues discussed in this textbook are objective.  There is no presence of an author opinion, which I found to be beneficial because it then encourages the reader to form his or her own uninfluenced opinions regarding the readings.  If a professor happens to require this textbook for a class, I would embrace the opportunity. This book is interesting and worth using for a class.

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American Public Policy: Promise and Performance
American Public Policy is a textbook that many professors use when teaching an introductory Public Policy course. Although the textbook was not my favorite in the world, it covered everything we learned in class well. The textbooks strength lies in explaining theories of public policy. These theories can be confusing because many are complicated, and lots of the theories have hyphenated names. Keeping track of all of them, let alone applying them can be daunting, but the textbook does a good job sorting them out for you. It has very useful tables that let you compare and contrast these theories easily. The writing itself is not very exciting. This is not entirely the writers fault, as the theoretical framework for public policy is hard to dress up, but it still can be unnecessarily dry and difficult to read. The book also spends too much time in the theoretical and not enough time actually showing how these theories can be applied to actual public policy. If the author wrote more about concrete happenings instead of abstract ideas, the book would probably be an easier read, which would satisfy both of my complaints. Overall, this book should be helpful for anyone taking a public policy class. 
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A Political Theory Primer
The book A Political Theory Primer, by Peter C. Ordeshook, is a book that looks at politics from the standpoint of mathematics and game theory. It starts with a set of assumptions about political decision-making and derives a unique way of looking at political decision-making mathematically. It looks at the decision tree, or extensive form, as a way of making decisions based on the decisions of others. It then looks at the strategic form, which provides a more traditional game-theoretic perspective to the situations involved. It analyzes the consequences that follow from basic assumptions, such as Arrow's Impossibility Theorem, which states that any transitive social preference order must be given by a dictatorship. Though this approach to political decision making is non-traditional, providing a formalism for the task of analyzing decisions sheds light on what factors are considered in making decisions, such as the decisions of others. This formalism provides a ready-made framework for arguments in the form of proofs about political theory. The abstractness of the book may be a deterrent to those who are interested in policy and actual cases, but the decision-making framework provided in this book is useful not only to analyze political decisions but to examine decisions made in everyday life.
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Online textbooks
Did you know that most of the political science textbooks are available online? Or at least that's what the publishers say. There are advantages to an online textbook - they are generally cheaper. Which is important because upper divisions political science classes have a lot of reading and a lot of books. If you get them online at least you can save a little money.  Also, press your professors to get access to the online information for a print textbook. When I worked as a TA I was given an access code to the publisher's website for the book. The website had review questions, outlines, and general information that would've been very helpful to the students. Instead of the students being able to get online for the information, I had to  get online and print it  out because the professor didn't want to go through the hassle of asking for a general access code for his students.  I really think that more professors should transition to online books. It makes life easier for students and is actually cheaper. The problem is that the professors won't get as large a cut of money if the book is theirs. I've had so many professors who assign their book, or their friend's book, simply to gain access to a paycheck. It stinks. 
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Unbiased view
I have seen, and previewed this book, and I disagree with your definition of unbiased view. There is a way to present American Government and development in an unbiased way - you use history to explain how thing occured. This textbook does not do that. Instead he speaks of reform and change. Instead of asking leading questions at the end, such as, "Now that you have read this chapter, do you believe there is a problem and what would be a suggestion to solve that problem," the author actively advocates for various changes and solutions. In comparing the US to Europe he ignores that the governments are structured differently because of their different economic structures. He also ignores certain facets of American interactions that are unique. He ignores the notion that American political parties are essentially part of the center of the political spectrum. While we have two different parties, we have nothing like the political spectrum that exists in Europe. When he compares the governments of American and Europe he simply ignores things that do not fit into his idea of the world. It isn't a bad book - and it does introduce all the basic concepts. But it is a book that needs some work on being objective. Otherwise students will be too easily swayed by his writing.
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Presidential Power and the Modern Presidents
Presidential Power and the Modern Presidents By: Richard E. Neustadt ISBN: 0029227968 This book was used in a Presidential Politics class. The book examines presidents from Roosevelt to Reagan and examines how they used their presidential power. Neustadt examines whether the President in question was a leader or a clerk - he examines what actions they took to decide the answer to this question. Also, he looks at how the various Presidents handled their power: Did they use it to persuade? Did they use their power to establish a good reputation and then use that reputation to persuade? Lastly, Neustadt examines how to view a President from a later position. In the first part of his analysis, he tried to do a "real-time" analysis - and analysis of their action in their time. In the second part of his book he looks back at the Presidents.  This book is long, but it is a required book for most Political Science students. If you are going to be studying American politics, this book is one of the most well known presidential scholarship pieces. I used it in 1 undergraduate course and 3 graduate level course. It was also required reading for my comprehensive exams.  It is worth it to get the book in paperback rather than electronically so you can always have a copy with notes. 
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America Alone
America Alone: The End of the World As We Know It. Mark Steyn ISBN: 9781596985278 This book is written by Mark Steyn. Mr. Steyn is a popular conservative columnist. He makes no attempt to hide his position in this book. The book functions as a satire. It is funny and provocative. It is not intended as a textbook, but is rather a "What if?" type of book. He writes the book to show how America should defend its core values - as defined by him. Mr. Steyn lists the core values as: Self-reliance, family, and our contry is the world's best and last hope. This book was for a political theory class. It was a graduate level class. The goal of the book was to get the class discussing how theory might play out in the real world. This book takes a real look at what is currently going on in the world and projects forward. It is 214 pages long and we had to read it in a week. I am sure that I missed many points in reading it so fast. What I did not miss what the underlying sense of humor in the book. Most books and journal articles are very dry. This book actually made me laugh while reading it. 
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Modernist and Fundamentalist Debates in Islam
Modernist and Fundamentalist Debates in Islam Edited by Mansoor Moaddel and Kamran Talattof ISBN: 1403960925 This book was used in a class titles, "Islamic Politics and the Middle East." The stated goal of the class was to try and understand the varying view points that are present in the Middle East and Islam and look at how those view points interact with the different levels of society.  The book is a reader. A reader is a book with many different essays. Most of the essays in a reader are excerpted. They are then grouped by subject area. The goal is to give the student a broad idea of the different areas involved without requiring the student to read 100 journal articles. The book was well edited. It was a good book to use because the introduction of the book laid out the two viewpoints presented: modernist and fundamentalist.  I think that without that early introduction to the two view points, the whole idea of dueling articles would have become muddied. This is especially true for a student who is not very knowledgeable in this area of politics. The other thing the book did well was grouping the articles together. Sometimes the articles are placed in groups that do not have much cohesion. This reader had all the articles grouped nicely. It was an easy read and helped improve my understanding of the world. That is all you can ask of a book. 
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Where Does The Money Go?
Where Does The Money Go? Your guided tour to the federal budget crisis. Scott Bittle and Jean Johnson (They also write the Public Agenda Online website). ISBN: 9780061241871 This book is newer than many other budget books out there. The book was published in 2008. That makes it very current. This is important when understanding the federal budget. The goal of this book is to help you understand where the money in the federal budget goes. As many political science students understand, not everyone knows where the money goes. In fact, most students still think the biggest spending in the budget is on Medicare. This books walks you through, step by step, where the money goes and why. The book is very easy to understand. There is jargon in the book, but when the jargon is first used it is explained. The authors note that the book is intended to be accessible for everyone, not simply political science majors. They do achieve this goal. One of the nice things about the book is that it tries to be objective. It points out the major problem (more money going out than is coming in) and explains the consequences of large debt for countries. It also asks the readers to find where the problems are. There are several points in the book where the authors give two sides of the issues (cutting Social Security and keeping it) and try to examine what it means for the numbers of the budget. They do a fairly good job keeping politics out and sticking to how the numbers function and work. It is a good, basic primer on federal budget politics.
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The Oxford Handbook of Political Theory
The Oxford Handbook of Political Theory ISBN: 9780199548439 This book was a savior for me. I did not like my political theory classes. I really did not like them. I tried hard to read everything, but I got bogged down in all the language and hardly ever completed a full reading of Aristotle or Plato. I broke down and invested in this book. Oxford makes a series of books on politics. They are readers (articles and excerpts). They present all the major issues. I did not hav a single political theory reading that was not covered in this book in some way. They explore everything from justice, the body politic, and contemporary political theory. All the major theorists are well represented in this book. It is not a substitute for trying to read the original works. In fact, I did make it through some original works. I always read the important parts of the original works - I just had to decide what was important. For someone who simply needs an overview of certain theories or theorists, the handbook works great. It also works to give a background in political theory to those who might be in the deep end of a political theory class (like me) and need help making it through.
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We the People
We the People: An Introduction to American Politics  Benjamin Ginsberg (Author), Theodore J. Lowi (Author), Margaret Weir (Author), Robert J. Spitzer (Contributor) Publication Date: December 14, 2010 | ISBN-10: 0393935655 | ISBN-13: 978-0393935653 | Edition: Eighth Essentials Edition   This book is really a good book for anyone who wants to know and learn about the American government and how it was formed and what events were occurred . You will learn aspects of the American government that were never covered in your learning.  It is specifically designed to give you a broad understanding of how government works and to assist you in understanding the importance of each individual within the scope of the American government. Also it has all the events that took place in the American history which lead to the shaping of present American government and also it has the significance of those events in our current life.
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I've used this book.
I have used this book as an instructor. I really liked it. It gave the general overview that was needed and still gave insight into current events. One of the bonuses to this book is that there is a website the publisher made to go with the book. Students can access the website and work on practice exams, vocabulary, and expand their readings.  The book is also fairly apolitical in its writing. There is no clear side that the book leans to. That makes this book ideal for an introduction to government type of class. When the introduction class is taught, it needs to be taught without a political leaning. The book needs to be factual and not liberal/conservative. This is so the students gain access to the structure and ideas of government and can then work on forming their own opinions. The book is divided into chapters that make sense. There is even a supplement for California that teaches students about California government. There are sections of the book that focus on policy development and history as well as the structure of government. This is important because it allows students to get an overview of how government works with certain ideas. I really liked this book for my introductory classes. 
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A practical guide for policy analysis
A Practical Guide for Policy Analysis Eugene Bardach ISBN: 1889119296 One class that all Political Science students take is Public Policy. It can be called many different things, but the goal of the course is to understand how public policy gets made and how to analyze it. This book is a small book - it only has 102 pages. But it is a wonderful guide. There are so many public policy textbooks out there that are huge and try to make the whole analysis portion of the class miserable. This book is short and to the point. It offers tips on how to write and choose words when analyzing policy. The books gives concrete tips for how to analyze policy. It walks you through the entire analysis procedure, starting with how to define a problem. So many other textbooks simply say that there is a problem and you should consider the problem to be X. This book walks you through how to define and choose a problem for policy analysis. Because of this introductory problem choosing analysis, this book is far more practical for work after college. I still use this book when I am analyzing policy to make sure that I am hitting all the points I need to hit. It functions as my checklist.
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American Government Readings and Cases
American Government Readings and Cases Peter Woll ISBN: 0673524388 This book is a basic political science reader. Anyone who is taking American Government as an upper division class or a graduate student should have this book. It is an older reader, but it has all the essentials. The reader is sectioned into three parts and each part covers a section of American government. In the book there are excerpts from articles about American government. There are also excerpts from famous cases that have changed the way our society and government operate. Too often people forget that American government is shaped by the United States Supreme Court as well as Congress and the President. The judicial branch gets shorted in most books. In this reader the famous court cases are given equal time with scholarly articles on government.  It is a balanced reader, and none of the information is going to go out of date. I use it when working on problems currently. It is a great citation reference if I am looking for the history of issues in our government. I also have used it to teach independent study to students who need to pass American Government but cannot take the class. It is a lot of heavy reading, and makes you draw your own conclusions. The information is not presented in a fact like manner - like textbooks - but is rather presented in articles that you have to read and understand.
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Don't think of an elephant
Don't Think of an Elephant. Geoge Lakoff ISBN: 1931498717 This book was used in my political thought and development class. It was also used in my political ideology class. It is a great book and it should be read by more than political science students. One of the great things about this book is the easy way it is written. Lakoff writes without jargon and with humor. It is an easy read. It takes about an hour to read the entire book. The focus of the book is on udnerstanding that liberals and conservatives frame their arguments differently. Even when they are arguing about the same thing, the basic perceptions are different. He argues that in order to succeed in an argument, you have to be the one putting the frame around the argument. Because it is ahrd to change the framing of an issue, the side that wins the framing battle wins the whole issue. He looks at the pro-life/pro-choice movement as one example.  He also examines how political ideology is developed in children. He looks at the perceptions of iberals and conservatives and shows how the various ways children are raised, even if the raising does not mention political ideas, influences political ideology.    
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The Global Transformations Reader
The Global Transformations Reader David Held and Nathony McGrew ISBN: 0765634355 This reader was used in my graduate level Globalization class. It begins with a section on globalization. This section covers what globalization is, the history of globalization, and how it functions. Held, one of the authors, writes an article about how to view globalization. This article was very helpful as it helped me frame the globalization debate.  The rest of the book is made up of excerpts from articles and books that speak about the different aspects of globalization. It covers national identity in a global world, world order and normative choices, culture and society, and global economy. The reader focuses on how the economy interacts with each country in the global society to change things. There are more than a few articles on how globalization damages some countries while helping others. In that sense, this book has a liberal leaning. Liberal leaning in globalization is nothing new - globalization is a liberal idea. The concept of a lack of national boundaries is a liberal idea. In this sense, the book is very biased. I would not recommend it for undergraduate students because they would be too influenced by the way the book leans to be able to look at the ideas objectively. Additionally, the reading is hard. It is not long, it is just dense reading. Without the proper background in economics and political science, a student would be lost with this book.
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Classics in Congressional Politics
Classics in Congressional Politics Weisberg, Heberlig, and Campoli ISBN: 0801320305 Sometimes, in American Government classes, the readings can be tedious. There are lots of journal articles that go through various methodologies. All you really want out of those readings is the conclusion they draw. It can be hard to find those conclusions when they are mired in numbers, statistics, and various literature reviews. This book is a reader that cuts through all the extra that exisists in journal articles. The book as articles on the various classic questions in Congressional politics. Whether you need to read about representation ideas, setting the agenda, using powers, committee usage, or other common topics, the book has articles by leading scholars on them all.  Additionally, the book has some "current topic" issues that try to help the student integrate what they have just finished reading with a current idea. When the book deals with legislative development and change, the authors pose the question of how term limits fit in with the material that was just read.  This is a great book. It functions as a cheat sheet for Congressional politics. I wrote a paper on Congressional politics using this book as the main source. The articles in the book had sources included in them, so I was able to branch out from the book. It functions as an academic version of a Wikipedia article on Congressional politics.  
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The Transformation of American Law 1780-1860
The Transformation of American Law 1780-1860 Morton J. Horwitz ISBN: 0674903714 This book was one of three used in my History of American Law class. The class sounded good on paper, but the reading was horrible. This book was the worst of the lot. It was dry and dense. I can handle dry or dense, but when the book is both dry and dense it is difficult for me to read. The information about the evolution of American law is given in context. It starts with the development of the common law system in England and how that transferred over into American law. The book also seeks to place the legal developments in economic context. The author believes that the way law has shifted to protect private property is what fueled the economic growth and development of the United States. This book gives all the information - and more - that it needs to give. It hold a particular point of view about law and economics that seems a bit extreme. Th author treats this legal history treatise as a way to show how economic law, private law, and contract law developed and made the United States into the economic powerhouse it is today. It is a weird meld of politics, law, and economics. I clearly did not like the book.
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Cheat sheet to US History
Something that seems to be neglected in political science is US history. The history of the US cannot be seperated from the political activities of the US quite as easily as the political science professors would have us believe. The beginnings of the Constitution came about because of the study of history and theorists. American foreign policy has developed in the way it has because of the way history has treated America. Politics and history are intertwined. Which is why it is so important to have a cheat sheet to US history. I got the 2 Sparknotes books on US history to be my cheat sheet. I was able to flag them with post-its so I could link political issues into historical context. It also gave me something to refer to when my professors would say something like, "When the 1944 election did this, it was because of this." If I had forgotten what else was occurring in 1944, I could just look at my cheat sheets and figure it out. I'm not saying that everyone needs to take US History as a class -you do not. But all political science majors should have a book that gives them the basics of US history so they are familiar with the events occurring in the time period. Trying to study politics in the absence of history does not make sense.