Keeping the Republic, 4th Brief Edition

It happens too often—well-regarded authors write an excellent full-length text, only to have it sliced and diced into a brief edition whose narrative bears little resemblance to the original. Thankfully, you have a choice—KTR Brief is carefully condensed by Barbour and Wright, giving your students the continuity and consistency of the full version, just in a more concise package.

Serving as a true aid to teachers, each chapter’s discussion of “who gets what and how” is designed to build students’ analytical abilities. By introducing them to the seminal work in the field and showing them how to employ the themes of power and citizenship, this proven text builds confidence in students who want to take an active part in their communities and government.

In this fourth edition, students will find discussion of the Obama administration’s early successes and setbacks, of how Congress fared under Democratic majorities, of the 2010 midterm election results, and of the lasting and lingering affects of the Great Recession, health care reform passage, two ongoing wars, the BP oil spill, and a fast-changing mass media climate.

Barbour and Wright have carefully crafted each sidebar, box, and profile to develop students’ critical thinking skills:

• What’s at Stake?-What’s at Stake Revisited vignettes bookend each chapter asking students to think about what people are struggling to get from politics.
• Consider the Sourceunpacks a method for assessing different types of political information: look for bias, lay out the argument, uncover evidence, and sort out political implications.
• Profiles in Citizenship feature advice about the various ways students can enter public life and make a difference from figures like Sandra Day O’Connor, Bill Richardson, and Bill Maher.

Winning in 2012: CQ Press's Guide to the Election

Once again, CQ Press provides your students with a valuable supplement that provides an insider’s guide to the 2012 elections. Journalist and analyst Bob Benenson lays out a road map to help students understand:

• the ups and downs, ins and outs of the nomination process and the primaries;
• the key Congressional and gubernatorial contests in battleground states;
• the policy issues at play this election season—such as the economy and jobs, tax revenue versus cuts in government spending, Occupy Wall Street, the Tea Party movement, immigration, and health care; and
• how these 2012 elections fit within the context of past elections.

Winning in 2012 is the perfect jumping off point for your intro American government course—a resource students can continually refer to as they assess the candidates and make sense of the issues.

Keeping the Republic, 4th Brief Edition

New annotated section headings reinforce the book's main points. Twice the photos than in the previous edition.

• Chapter 1 features a new What's at Stake? on turnout and political engagement by young voters in the 2008 election. 
• The chapter on the founding includes a new What's at Stake? that looks at citizens' frustration with government and their expression of this  through the Tea Party Movement. 
• The federalism chapter features extended discussion of unfunded mandates, including the controversial 2005 REAL ID Act.
• The new What's at Stake? in the civil liberties chapter examine a state attorney general's effort to prosecute a professor for what he saw as fradulent scientific research. New and updated coverage of health care reform, reproductive rights, and the Obama administration is woven throughout the chapter.
• The civil rights chapter features expanded discussion of African American voter turnout and the election of Obama, along  with updates addressing gender discrimination and sexual orientation.
• In the chapter on Congress, the new What's at Stake? addresses the use of the filibuster in the Senate to stymie Obama's presidential ambitions and also examines Congress's role as a watchdog, looking in particular at the SEC and the financial crisis. There is expanded discussion on increasing political polarization and congressional oversight and regulation concerning the oil industry.
• The presidency chapter features the Obama administration throughout, streamlines information on executive agreements, and looks at Obama's picks for the judiciary. A revised examination of public approval looks at how changes in the economy precipitated Obama's approval rating drop.
• A thoroughly revised bureaucracy chapter addresses the politicization of the bureaucracy and differing views on regulation.
• The courts chapter focuses on the contentious confirmation process and the role of partisanship in stalling monimations and also discusses new Supreme Court justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.
• The public opinion chapter has been reorganized, with examination of the sources of division in public opinion and the connection of this division to partisanship and ideology.
• National health care reform leads off the parties and interest groups chapter with updates regarding the Tea Party movement and the Citizens United case.
• The significance of the Citizens United ruling is examined in the new What's at Stake? in the voting and elections chapter. Reorganized discussions on voting and reform and on voter turnout attitudes are also included.
• The growing role of the internet as a news source is explored in the media chapter's new What's at Stake?
• The policy chapter includes new discussion of national health care reform, the Dodd-Frank bank reform bill, and the federal stimulus bill, along with an updated What's at Stake? that examines the BP oil spill within the context of the debate over offshore drilling.

CQ Press is pleased to comply with the Higher Education Opportunity Act. Please email heoacompliance@cqpress.com for additional information that may be available. Be sure to include your name, contact information, academic affiliation, and the title, author, and edition of the book in question.

Contact us at collegesales@cqpress.com if we may assist you in your book selection or if you have feedback to share. Thank you for your consideration of CQ Press books.

Contents
Preface
To the Student

1. Power and Citizenship in American Politics

2. The Politics of the American Founding

3. Federalism

4. Fundamental American Liberties

5. The Struggle for Equal Rights

6. Congress

7. The Presidency

8. The Bureaucracy

9 The American Legal System and the Courts

10. Public Opinion

11. Parties and Interest Groups

12. Voting, Campaigns, and Elections

13. The Media

14. Domestic and Foreign Policy

Appendix Material
Notes
Glossary
Index
Profile Sources
Illustration Credits

Christine Barbour teaches in the political science department and the Honors College at Indiana University, where she has become increasingly interested in how teachers of large classes can maximize what their students learn. At Indiana, Professor Barbour has been a Lilly Fellow, working on a project to increase student retention in large introductory courses, and a member of the Freshmen Learning Project, a university-wide effort to improve the first year undergraduate experience. She has served on the New York Times College Advisory Board, working with other educators on developing ways to integrate newspaper reading into the undergraduate curriculum. She has won several teaching awards at Indiana, but the two that mean the most to her were awarded by her students: the Indiana University Student Alumni Association Award for Outstanding Faculty (1995-6) and the Indiana University Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists Brown Derby Award (1997). She is currently working on a book about local politics, development and the fishing industry in Apalachicola, Florida.

Gerald C. Wright has taught political science at Indiana University since 1981. He is an accomplished scholar of American politics—his books include Statehouse Democracy: Public Opinion, and Policy in the American States with co-authors Robert S. Erikson and John P. McIver, and he has published over 40 articles on elections, public opinion, and state politics. He has long studied the relationship between citizens, their preferences and public policy. He is currently conducting research with a grant from the National Science Foundation on what influences the character of policy representation in the states and the U.S. Congress, and he is writing a book about representation in the American legislatures. He has been a consultant for Project Vote Smart in the last several elections. Professor Wright is a member of the Freshmen Learning Project at Indiana University, a university-wide effort to improve the first year undergraduate experience by focusing on how today’s college students learn and how teachers can adapt their pedagogical methods to best teach them.

Bob Benenson is a veteran political analyst who wrote and edited at Congressional Quarterly in Washington, DC for 30 years. Benenson is now a freelance journalist and blogger living in Chicago.