Keeping the Republic, 5th edition Essentials

Whether reading today's political news blog or last century's speeches on suffrage, sifting facts from hyperbole and analysis from opinion is a real challenge for students. Keeping the Republic's lively discussion of "who gets what and how" develops their critical thinking abilities so they aren't just memorizing details or passively reading. Every section and every feature in the book has one goal in mind: to get students to think critically and be skeptical of received wisdom. Serving as a true aid to teachers, each chapter is designed to build the 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- to play their part in keeping the republic, and to consider the consequences of that engagement (or lack thereof).

In this fifth 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 effects of the Great Recession, health care reform passage, two ongoing wars, the BP oil spill, and a fast-changing mass media climate.

Bright, bold colors give the book’s new interior design a jumpstart. Bigger photos visually grab students, but it’s the innovative treatment of key terms, the ability to discern the chapter’s structure from clear headings, and the colorful, but cohesive layout of the features that compel students to read every page.

Successful teachers know that pedagogy matters in the classroom. Barbour and Wright have carefully crafted each sidebar, box, and profile to further students’ analytic sensibilities and develop 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 and how the rules affect the outcome of that struggle.
• Consider the Source unpacks a method for assessing different types of political information: look for bias, lay out the argument, uncover evidence, and sort out political implications.
• Who are We? graphically displays a wealth of demographic data. Students evaluate charts, figures, and maps to explore the effect diversity plays on our ideas of government’s role in our lives.
• Profiles in Citizenship feature advice about the various ways students can enter public life and make a difference. Insight from figures such as Sandra Day O’Connor, Bill Richardson, Newt Gingrich, and Bill Maher captivate students’ imagination.
• Who, What, How, and WHEN timelines show how key issues in our politi-cal history wax and wane as power shifts and opportunities arise.

Instructors will also appreciate the additional elements strategically placed throughout the text that support close and engaged reading:

• Marginal glossary definitions allow students to easily reference key terms.
• Thinking Outside the Box questions challenge students’ assumptions and provoke thoughtful responses and discussion.
• To Sum Up sections at the end of chapters include a list of key terms, bulleted list summaries, quiz questions, and suggestions of print, video, and online resources that students might read, watch, or click on.

For more about Keeping the Republic, 5th edition essentials, click here. 

Clued in to Politics, 3rd Edition

Beyond asking students to analyze a reading, how do you actually get them to do it? With their popular CLUES method, Barbour and Streb train students to Consider the source, Lay out the argument, Uncover the evidence, Evaluate the conclusion, and Sort out the political implications. With their contextual headnotes and CLUES questions, every reading helps develop lasting habits of critical thinking. Around 80 brief selections—36 new to this edition—are drawn from the wide range of media from which students glean political information.

For more about Clued in to Politics, 3rd edition, click here. 

Keeping the Republic: Power and Citizenship in American Politics, 5th Edition, The Essentials

In this fifth 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 effects of the Great Recession, health care reform passage, two ongoing wars, the BP oil spill, and a fast-changing mass media climate.

Bright, bold colors give the book’s new interior design a jumpstart. Bigger photos visually grab students, but it’s the innovative treatment of key terms, the ability to discern the chapter’s structure from clear headings, and the colorful, but cohesive layout of the features that compel students to read every page.

Clued in to Politics: A Critical Thinking Reader in American Government, 3rd Edition

This updated edition provides students with around 80 brief selections—36 new to this edition—through which Barbour and Streb train students to use their popular CLUES method to Consider the source, Lay out the argument, Uncover the evidence, Evaluate the conclusion, and Sort out the political implications.

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To view the table of contents for Keeping the Republic, 5th edition essentials, click here.

To view the table of contents for Clued in to Politics, 3rd edition, click here. 

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.

Matthew J. Streb is assistant professor and director of undergraduate studies in the department of political science at Northern Illinois University. He specializes and teaches in areas of political parties, elections, polling and public opinion, and Congress, and regularly teaches sections of Introduction to American Government. Streb is the author, editor, or co-editor of seven books, including The New Electoral Politics of Race (2002), Law and Election Politics (2005), and Academic Freedom at the Dawn of a New Century (2006), and has published articles in journals, including Political Research Quarterly, Public Opinion Quarterly, Social Science Quarterly, Election Law Journal, and Politics and Policy. His most recent research examines the role that political parties play in judicial elections. Streb received his PhD from Indiana University in 2000.