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Always a classic, Dodd and Oppenheimer’s Congress Reconsidered is the recognized source for in-depth, cutting-edge scholarship on Congress geared to undergraduates. Thoroughly updated—with ten brand new pieces and the others completely revised—this ninth edition includes cogent, timely analysis of the 2008 congressional elections, as well as coverage of: 

• the 110th Democratic Congress,specifically its energy policy, its handling of the Iraq War, and its taxing and spending; 
• the role of committees in Congress;
• leadership by women and minorities in Congress;
• the effects of campaign finance reform;
• differences in legislative activity between the Republican and Democratic Congresses;
• party coalition-building across the postwar era;
• and perspective on campaigns, elections,and political careers from member of Congress Daniel Lipinski.

Prologue, Lawrence C. Dodd and Bruce I. Oppenheimer

Part I. Patterns and Dynamics of Congressional Change

1. The New World of U.S. Senators, Barbara Sinclair

2. Upheaval in the House: Partisan Alternation and Institutional Adaptation, Lawrence C. Dodd and Bruce I. Oppenheimer

3. Is Congress Still A Broken Branch?, Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein

Part II. Elections, Constituencies, and Careers

4. Voters, Candidates, and Issues in Congressional Elections, Robert S. Erikson and Gerald C. Wright

5. Issue Voting in the 2006 Elections for the U.S. House of Representatives, Paul S. Herrnson and James M. Curry

6. Promises Made and Promises Kept, Tracy E. Sulkin

Part III. Parties and Committees

7. The Dynamics of Party Government in Congress, Steven S. Smith and Gerald Gamm

8. The Transition to Democratic Leadership in a Polarized House, Kathryn Pearson and Eric Schickler

9. The Whip Systems of Congress, C. Lawrence Evans and Claire E. Grandy

10. Congressional Committees in a Continuing Partisan Era, John H. Aldrich and David W. Rohde

Part IV. Congress and Public Policy

11. The Politics of Advice and Consent: Putting Judges on the Federal Bench, Sarah A. Binder and Forrest Maltzman

12. Transforming American Politics through Tax Policy, Catherine E. Rudder

13. Congress and Energy Policy: Historical Perspective and Contemporary Conundrums, Bruce I. Oppenheimer

14. Congress, the President, and the Iraq War’s Domestic Political Front, William G. Howell and Douglas L. Kriner

15. Congressional Careers from the Inside: A Political Scientist as Congressman, Daniel Lipinski

Part V. Congress and Political Change

16. From Congressional to Presidential Preeminence: Power and Politics in Late Nineteenth-Century America and Today, Joseph Cooper

17. Reconsidering Party Polarization and Policy Productivity: A Curvilinear Perspective, Lawrence C. Dodd and Scot Schraufnagel

18. Congressional Politics in a Time of Crisis: The 2008 Elections and Their Implications, Lawrence C. Dodd and Bruce I. Oppenheimer

"Those of us who teach undergraduate courses on Congress are always looking for reader/texts that place the institution within a double context--its relationship to other parts of the political system and its changing patterns of power and influence within the evolving forces of history. Congress Reconsidered is the best collection I have yet seen for educating students within this dual context of institutional relationships and historical change."

“At a time when Congress is constantly changing, one thing is constant—Congress Reconsidered is the best source for scholars and students to learn about how the contemporary House and Senate are functioning. Since its first edition this book has been—and it remains—the gold standard for classroom anthologies.”

"No text for classes in the Congress combines relevant research contributions and an approach that students respond to as well as Congress Reconsidered. Students find the book accessible and engaging, and I am continually impressed at the quality of scholarship collected. Dodd and Oppenheimer have produced one of the few automatic choices in my textbook adoption process."

Lawrence C. Dodd holds the Manning J. Dauer Eminent Scholar Chair in Political Science at the University of Florida. His books include Learning Democracy (2005), New Perspectives on American Politics (1994), Congress and Policy Change (1986), Congress and the Administrative State (1979), and Coalitions in Parliamentary Government (1976). He has been a Woodrow Wilson Center Fellow (2003–2004), University Fellow (1993–1994), Hoover National Fellow (1984–1985), and Congressional Fellow (1974–1975). Dodd was selected as the University of Florida’s Teacher-Scholar of the Year in 2007, the university’s highest faculty honor.

Bruce I. Oppenheimer is professor of political science at Vanderbilt University. He received his PhD from the University of Wisconsin and has been a Congressional Fellow (1974– 1975) and Brookings Fellow in Governmental Studies (1970–1971). His book Sizing Up the Senate:The Unequal Consequences of Equal Representation (1999), coauthored with Frances Lee, was awarded the D. B. Hardeman Prize. He is also editor of U.S. Senate Exceptionalism (2002).