American Government and Politics Today 2001-2002/With Infotrac

Rating:
Summary: A top-notch political science textbook
Review: I have used this well-organized, well-illustrated textbook in a community college course on American Federal government which I have taught for 14 years as an adjunct instructor. The textbook does an excellent job of not only discussing the format of our Federal government but also the methods which citizens use to become involved in democracy and politics (i.e. elections, political parties, interest groups). The photos and names of political leaders, Congressional committee assignments, and Cabinet members are about as up-to-date as a hard cover text can be. Since political science has a lot of jargon, I like having the definitions of terms in the margins close to where the terms first appear--which is true of this textbook. It has an annotated copy of the U.S. Constitution, which is expesically helpful for those students not familiar with the "King's English". The essays (Politics Wired, Critical Perspectives) provide wonderful examples of the function of our Federal government that is discussed in a particular chapter and can be very effective discussion tools.