LibGuides: Government: Books & eBooks

Featured eBooks

Go to A-Z Databases: Books & eBooks to search for more eBooks. Must access on campus or login with your COM account for off campus access.

Want more on finding books or eBooks? Try our How to Use Books & eBooks guides.

The American Political Process American Political Process examines both the formal institutions of government and organizations such as political parties and pressure groups. It analyzes how these bodies interact in the making of public policy in the United States in order to provide an understanding of contemporary American politics. The seventh edition has been thoroughly updated and revised with entirely new material on: the 2000 Presidential election and George W. Bush's presidency; the September 11th attacks and the 'War on Terrorism'; the 2002 mid-term elections controversial issues such as abortion and gun control. Each chapter includes a variety of useful tables and diagrams, suggestions for further reading and relevant websites and a glossary of key terms. Written with admirable clarity, this is the ideal textbook for students of American politics and society.
Big Ideas Simply Explained: The Politics Book From ancient and medieval philosophers such as Confucius and Thomas Aquinas, to revolutionary thought leaders such as Thomas Jefferson and Leon Trotsky, to the voices who have shaped modern politics today - Mao Zedong, Malcolm X, Che Guevara, and more - The Politics Book clearly and simply explains more than 100 groundbreaking ideas in the history of political thought. With easy-to-follow graphics, succinct quotations, and accessible text, The Politics Book is an essential reference for students and anyone wondering how politics works.
Dictionary of American Government and Politics This Dictionary offers a fresh, up-to-date look at US government and politics, explaining, and where necessary, demystifying the key terms used in discussion of the political system. Major figures, events, ideas, movements and Supreme Court cases relevant to a study of the American political system are included with the aim of allowing readers to develop a deeper knowledge and understanding of the area.
Disorder : Hard Times in the 21st Century Getting to grips with the overlapping geopolitical, economic, and political crises faced by Western democratic societies in the 2020s.Disorder: Hard Times in the 21st Century explains the historical origins of the political shocks of the past decade, showing how the Covid-19 crisis blew apart fault lines in western democracies, the US-China relationship, NATO, and the European Union that had been accumulating for decades.The book tells three historical stories.The geopolitical story begins with the inherent difficulties the United States faced as an ascendant non-Eurasian power in the early twentieth century, especially in the Middle East, and culminates in the American turn away from China in a world in which the United States is simultaneously adeclining military power and a resurgent energy and financial power.The economic story begins in the 1970s and explains how the rise of the Eurodollar system and the decade's energy crises remade the monetary world and the European Union, and how the Federal Reserve and China's response to the 2007-8 crash in preventing an economic collapse let lose a succession ofeconomic and energy problems that cannot now be resolved.The final story situates the present instability in the need for democracies to maintain 'losers' consent' and to be repaired when they become unbalanced. It also shows why such repair is so difficult under present geopolitical and economic conditions.
A Glossary of US Politics and Government This Glossary explains the key concepts, institutions, personalities and events most commonly referred to in the teaching of US politics and government. The emphasis is on accessibility in order to provide students with a ready source of knowledge which can supplement core reading. The book will help students to address any gaps they may have in their understanding of US politics which, in turn, will make studying this fascinating subject all the more rewarding and enjoyable.
The Handy American Government Answer Book Filling the breach and answering basic questions about how our very complex government operates and what it promises, The Handy American Government Answer Book: How Washington, Politics, and Elections Work takes a comprehensive look at the historic development of the government, the functions of each branch of government, and the systems, people, and policies that comprise American democracy.
Inventing the American Way Popular thought holds that America in the affluent postwar decades avoided extremes and shared a common set of convictions that can be briefly defined as a confidence in American-style capitalism and the democratic abundance it generated; distaste for class conflict; dedication to social unity at home and to anti-communism abroad; interfaith cooperation; and, by the early 1960s, support for civil rights. In this book, Wendy Wall looks at how and why Americans of diverse backgrounds and divergent political views agreed upon a need for and put forward a unifying set of national values. She particularly focuses on three groups: businessmen and advertising executives, government officials and cultural elites, and a loose collation of activists and intellectuals. They collectively launched a sweeping campaign to educate Americans on essential civic values, using radio, television, universities, and advertising. In this detailing of what was in fact a period of culture wars, Wall examines the birth of such concepts as 'free enterprise' and the 'vital center' that continue to be used by politicians today.
Key Concepts in Governance Provides a clear introduction to the technical concepts and policies of contemporary governance through short definitional essays.
Key Concepts in Political Communication This is a systematic and accessible introduction to the critical concepts, structures and professional practices of political communication.
Parties and Policies: How the American Government Works In this wide-ranging new volume, one of our most important and perceptive scholars of the workings of the American government investigates political parties, politicians, elections, and policymaking to discover why public policy emerges in the shape that it does. David R. Mayhew looks at two centuries of policy making--from the Civil War and Reconstruction era through the Progressive era, the New Deal, the Great Society, the Reagan years, and the aspirations of the Clinton and Bush administrations--and offers his original insights on the ever-evolving American policy experience. These fourteen essays were written over the past three decades and collectively showcase Mayhew's skepticism of the usefulness of political parties as an analytic window into American politics. These writings, which include a new introductory essay, probe beneath the parties to the essentials of the U.S. constitutional system and the impulses and idiosyncrasies of history.
Political Glossaries: A Glossary of US Politics and Government This Glossary explains the key concepts, institutions, personalities and events most commonly referred to in the teaching of US politics and government. The emphasis is on accessibility in order to provide students with a ready source of knowledge which can supplement core reading. The book will help students to address any gaps they may have in their understanding of US politics which, in turn, will make studying this fascinating subject all the more rewarding and enjoyable.
Political Science Toolbox: A Research Companion to American Government The authors of The Political Science Toolbox understand the dilemmas facing political science majors and the dilemmas facing political science instructors. Students yearn for a trusted guide to help them cope with the political science experience--a single reference work that contains the basic tools that an American government major needs to succeed. And instructors desire to help students ask meaningful political science questions, but are concerned about sacrificing valuable class time to "re-teach" basic research concepts. In other words, instructors desire a work that contains the basic tools that they hope their students bring to each class, but that experience tells them their students are unlikely to possess. The Political Science Toolbox is a reliable companion to students of American government as they navigate their undergraduate programs. It serves as a bridge between research methods classes and student research, making it a valuable supplement for an applied research methods class, as well as a useful supplement for introduction to American government courses or introduction to Political Science courses. Moreover, students completing honors papers, capstone assignments, or any substantial research projects in the field of American government will find the ideas and guidance provided in this work to be invaluable.
Political Theories for Students In-depth information on major political theories and systems from all time periods. Each entry begins with a general overview of the system/theory followed by a discussion of the principal aspects of the theory, the theory's philosophy and an analysis of the historical context in which the theory was developed, including critical response.
U. S. Government and Politics Focusing on the latest developments, this book explores whether the US political system lives up to its promise to provide freedom and equality of opportunity for all. Starting with the Constitutional Convention, which drew up the framework of the political system, the book examines mechanisms designed to prevent the oppressive use of power before analyzing the ways that the elected branches of government use power in modern America. Readers are provided with thought-provoking material on which to base their own conclusions on the extent to which US institutions and political practices succeed in living up to the Founding Fathers' lofty ideals. The US political system is evaluated through the topics of: The Constitution; Race & US Politics; The Supreme Court; Federalism; Elections; Political Parties; Pressure Groups; Congress and The Presidency. Each chapter examines how the system currently works and how it has developed, and makes comparisons with the British system of government to present a readable, accessible but academically stimulating introduction to the government and politics of the USA.

Featured Print Books

Go to OneSearch to search for more print books.

Want more on finding print books? Try our How to Use OneSearch guide.

American Dialogue: The Founders and Us The story of history is a ceaseless conversation between past and present, and in American Dialogue, Joseph J. Ellis focuses the conversation on the often-asked question "What would the Founding Fathers think?" He examines four of our most seminal historical figures through the prism of particular topics, using the perspective of the present to shed light on their views and, in turn, to make clear how their now centuries-old ideas illuminate the disturbing impasse of today's political conflicts. He discusses Jefferson and the issue of racism, Adams and the specter of economic inequality, Washington and American imperialism, and Madison and the doctrine of original intent. Through these juxtapositions - and in his hallmark dramatic and compelling narrative voice - Ellis illuminates the obstacles and pitfalls paralyzing contemporary discussions of these fundamentally important issues.
And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle Chronicles the life of Abraham Lincoln, charting how--and why--he confronted secession, threats to democracy, and the tragedy of slavery to expand the possibilities of America. A president who governed a divided country has much to teach us in a twenty-first-century moment of polarization and political crisis. Hated and hailed, excoriated and revered, Abraham Lincoln was at the pinnacle of American power when implacable secessionists gave no quarter in a clash of visions bound up with money, race, identity, and faith. In him we can see the possibilities of the presidency as well as its limitations. At once familiar and elusive, Lincoln tends to be seen as the greatest of American presidents--a remote icon--or as a politician driven more by calculation than by conviction. This illuminating new portrait gives us a very human Lincoln--an imperfect man whose moral antislavery commitment, essential to the story of justice in America, began as he grew up in an antislavery Baptist community; who insisted that slavery was a moral evil; and who sought, as he put it, to do right as God gave him to see the right. This book tells the story of Lincoln from his birth on the Kentucky frontier in 1809 to his leadership during the Civil War to his tragic assassination in 1865: his rise, his self-education, his loves, his bouts of depression, his political failures, his deepening faith, and his persistent conviction that slavery must end. In a nation shaped by the courage of the enslaved of the era and by the brave witness of Black Americans, Lincoln's story illustrates the ways and means of politics in a democracy, the roots and durability of racism, and the capacity of conscience to shape events.
Defining Documents in World History: Treason - Volumes 1 & 2 In the current politically charged era, the word "treason" frequently surfaces in vitriolic discourse. However, how many cases of actual treason have there been, who were the perpetrators, and what were their consequences? The list of people convicted of treason against the U.S. is actually void of famous names such as Benedict Arnold and Julius and Ethel Rosenberg - who, while treacherous and treasonous in their own rights, were never legally convicted of that crime - but does contain names such as Aaron Burr, John Fries (leader of Fries' Rebellion), John Brown (perpetrator in the Harpers Ferry raid), and numerous individuals convicted of defecting to Nazi Germany during WWII. In fact, the last conviction for treason in the U.S. was in 1952.This set expands its coverage to look at acts of treason throughout history and around the world. Chapters also look at tyrannical governments' attempts to label their enemies as treasonous. Individuals and events covered include Canada's Louis Riel; Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI of France; Adolph Hitler; the anti-Nazi White Rose Movement; the July 20, 1944 attempted assassination of Hitler; Great Britain's Thomas Paine; Nelson Mandela and the 1956 Treason Trial in South Africa; among many others.These volumes explore the history of treasonous acts in the United States from the country's founding to present. Documents examined include charters, constitutions, legislative debates, political speeches, historical accounts, court cases, modern-day articles, and more.
The Fifth Risk "The election happened," remembers Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, then deputy secretary of the Department of Energy. "And then there was radio silence." Across all departments, similar stories were playing out: Trump appointees were few and far between; those that did show up were shockingly uninformed about the functions of their new workplace. Some even threw away the briefing books that had been prepared for them. Michael Lewis's brilliant narrative takes us into the engine rooms of a government under attack by its own leaders. In Agriculture the funding of vital programs like food stamps and school lunches is being slashed. The Commerce Department may not have enough staff to conduct the 2020 Census properly. Over at Energy, where international nuclear risk is managed, it's not clear there will be enough inspectors to track and locate black market uranium before terrorists do. Willful ignorance plays a role in these looming disasters. If your ambition is to maximize short-term gains without regard to the long-term cost, you are better off not knowing those costs. If you want to preserve your personal immunity to the hard problems, it's better never to really understand those problems. There is upside to ignorance, and downside to knowledge. Knowledge makes life messier. It makes it a bit more difficult for a person who wishes to shrink the world to a world view. If there are dangerous fools in this book, there are also heroes, unsung, of course. They are the linchpins of the system--those public servants whose knowledge, dedication, and proactivity keep the machinery running. Michael Lewis finds them, and he asks them what keeps them up at night.
Founding Partisans: Hamilton, Madison, Jefferson, Adams and the Brawling Birth of American Politics A revelatory history of the shocking emergence of vicious political division at the birth of the United States. To the framers of the Constitution, political parties were a fatal threat to republican virtues. They had suffered the consequences of partisan politics in Britain before the American Revolution, and they wanted nothing similar for America. Yet parties emerged even before the Constitution was ratified, and they took firmer root in the following decade. In Founding Partisans, master historian H. W. Brands has crafted a fresh and lively narrative of the early years of the republic as the Founding Fathers fought one another with competing visions of what our nation would be. The first party, the Federalists, formed around Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and their efforts to overthrow the Articles of Confederation and make the federal government more robust. Their opponents organized as the Antifederalists, who feared the corruption and encroachments on liberty that a strong central government would surely bring. The Antifederalists lost but regrouped under the new Constitution as the Republicans, led by Thomas Jefferson, whose bruising contest against Federalist John Adams marked the climax of this turbulent chapter of American political history. The country's first years unfolded in a contentious spiral of ugly elections and blatant violations of the Constitution. Still, peaceful transfers of power continued, and the nascent country made its way towards global dominance, against all odds. Founding Partisans is a powerful reminder that fierce partisanship is a problem as old as the republic.
A Historical Guide to the U. S. Government Beginning with George Washington's presidential staff of three, the executive branch of the U.S. federal government has undergone a tremendous transformation. Today it is the largest institution of its kind in the world, employing over 3.1 million people, with an annual budget of over $1.5 trillion. A Historical Guide to the U.S. Government chronicles its growth from its modest beginnings to its present state.
Idiot's Guide to U. S. Government and Politics Do you really know how the U.S. government operates? Most Americans have simply forgotten what they learned in their high school government class. Providing an updated history and comprehensive overview, Idiot's Guides: U.S. Government & Politics, Second Edition, is written to help readers gain an understanding about the origins of the U.S government, in addition to its complex political system and key forces that drive a successful nation. Idiot's Guides: U.S. Government & Politics, Second Edition, details the three branches of the U.S. government, the political process in America, civil liberties and rights, and how public policy is formed.
Our Ancient Faith: Lincoln, Democracy & the American Experiment An intimate study of Abraham Lincolns powerful vision of democracy, which guided him through the Civil War and is still relevant today. Abraham Lincoln grappled with the greatest crisis of democracy that has ever confronted the United States. While many books have been written about his temperament, judgment, and steady hand in guiding the country through the Civil War, we know less about Lincolns penetrating ideas and beliefs about democracy, which were every bit as important as his character in sustaining him through the crisis. Allen C. Guelzo, one of Americas foremost experts on Lincoln, captures the president's firmly held belief that democracy was the greatest political achievement in human history. He shows how Lincolns deep commitment to the balance between majority and minority rule enabled him to stand firm against secession while also committing the Union to reconciliation rather than recrimination in the aftermath of war. In bringing his subject to life as a rigorous and visionary thinker, Guelzo assesses Lincolns actions on civil liberties and his views on race, and explains why his vision for the role of government would have made him a pivotal president even if there had been no Civil War. Our Ancient Faith gives us a deeper understanding of this endlessly fascinating man and shows how his ideas are still sharp and relevant more than 150 years later.
Politics for Dummies Whether you understand politics or not, it still affects your life in very real ways. But American politics can be confusing. What's a caucus? How do primaries work? How can you sift through all the babble to get to the truth? Politics For Dummies offers all these answers and more. And it's not just for political novices; even those with a firm understanding of politics can use this book to fill out their knowledge of the little complexities; from how the Electoral College works to campaign contribution limits. If you have little or no knowledge of politics, don't worry. This book will help.
Reference Shelf: National Debate Topic 2024/25: Intellectual Property Rights Each year since 1925, students from around the country engage in debates informed by the National Forensic League's (NFL) yearly national debate topic. Covering topics that range from U.S. foreign relations and economic policy abroad to key domestic issues, the NFL debate topics help shape academic and public discussions of some of the country's current issues and controversies.
Secret Empires: How The American Political Class Hides Corruption and Enriches Family and Friends Peter Schweizer has been fighting corruption--and winning--for years. In Throw Them All Out, he exposed insider trading by members of Congress, leading to the passage of the STOCK Act. In Extortion, he uncovered how politicians use mafia-like tactics to enrich themselves. And in Clinton Cash, he revealed the Clintons' massive money machine and sparked an FBI investigation. Now he explains how a new corruption has taken hold, involving larger sums of money than ever before. Stuffing tens of thousands of dollars into a freezer has morphed into multibillion-dollar equity deals done in the dark corners of the world. An American bank opening in China would be prohibited by US law from hiring a slew of family members of top Chinese politicians. However, a Chinese bank opening in America can hire anyone it wants. It can even invite the friends and families of American politicians to invest in can't-lose deals. President Donald Trump's children have made front pages across the world for their dicey transactions. However, the media has barely looked into questionable deals made by those close to Barack Obama, Joe Biden, John Kerry, Mitch McConnell, and lesser-known politicians who have been in the game longer. In many parts of the world, the children of powerful political figures go into business and profit handsomely, not necessarily because they are good at it, but because people want to curry favor with their influential parents. This is a relatively new phenomenon in the United States. But for relatives of some prominent political families, we may already be talking about hundreds of millions of dollars. Deeply researched and packed with shocking revelations, Secret Empires identifies public servants who cannot be trusted and provides a path toward a more accountable government.
So Damn Much Money: The Triumph of Lobbying and The Corrosion of American Government The startling story of the monumental growth of lobbying in Washington, D.C., and how it undermines effective government and pollutes our politics. A true insider, Robert G. Kaiser has monitored American politics for The Washington Post for nearly half a century. In this sometimes shocking and always riveting book, he explains how and why, over the last four decades, Washington became a dysfunctional capital. At the heart of his story is money & money made by special interests using campaign contributions and lobbyists to influence government decisions, and money demanded by congressional candidates to pay for their increasingly expensive campaigns, which can cost a staggering sum. In 1974, the average winning campaign for the Senate cost $437,000; by 2006, that number had grown to $7.92 million. The cost of winning House campaigns grew comparably: $56,500 in 1974, $1.3 million in 2006. Politicians' need for money and the willingness, even eagerness, of special interests and lobbyists to provide it explain much of what has gone wrong in Washington. They have created a mutually beneficial, mutually reinforcing relationship between special interests and elected representatives, and they have created a new class in Washington, wealthy lobbyists whose careers often begin in public service. Kaiser shows us how behavior by public officials that was once considered corrupt or improper became commonplace, how special interests became the principal funders of elections, and how our biggest national problems: health care, global warming, and the looming crises of Medicare and Social Security, among others, have been ignored as a result. Kaiser illuminates this progression through the saga of Gerald S. J. Cassidy, a Jay Gatsby for modern Washington. Cassidy came to Washington in 1969 as an idealistic young lawyer determined to help feed the hungry. Over the course of thirty years, he built one of the city's largest and most profitable lobbying firms and accumulated a personal fortune of more than $100 million. Cassidy's story provides an unprecedented view of lobbying from within the belly of the beast. A timely and tremendously important book that finally explains how Washington really works today, and why it works so badly.
The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump On March 16, 2018, just twenty-six hours before his scheduled retirement from the organization he had served with distinction for more than two decades, Andrew G. McCabe was fired from his position as deputy director of the FBI. President Donald Trump celebrated on Twitter: "Andrew McCabe FIRED, a great day for the hard working men and women of the FBI - A great day for Democracy." In The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump, Andrew G. McCabe offers a dramatic and candid account of his career, and an impassioned defense of the FBI's agents, and of the institution's integrity and independence in protecting America and upholding our Constitution. McCabe started as a street agent in the FBI's New York field office, serving under director Louis Freeh. He became an expert in two kinds of investigations that are critical to American national security: Russian organized crime--which is inextricably linked to the Russian state--and terrorism. Under Director Robert Mueller, McCabe led the investigations of major attacks on American soil, including the Boston Marathon bombing, a plot to bomb the New York subways, and several narrowly averted bombings of aircraft. Under James Comey, McCabe was deeply involved in the controversial investigations of the Benghazi attack, the Clinton Foundation's activities, and Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server when she was secretary of state. The Threat recounts in compelling detail the time between Donald Trump's November 2016 election and McCabe's firing, set against a page-turning narrative spanning two decades when the FBI's mission shifted to a new goal: preventing terrorist attacks on Americans. But as McCabe shows, right now the greatest threat to the United States comes from within, as President Trump and his administration ignore the law, attack democratic institutions, degrade human rights, and undermine the U.S. Constitution that protects every citizen. Important, revealing, and powerfully argued, The Threat tells the true story of what the FBI is, how it works, and why it will endure as an institution of integrity that protects America.
Why Government Fails So Often: And How It Can Do Better From healthcare to workplace and campus conduct, the federal government is taking on ever more responsibility for managing our lives. At the same time, Americans have never been more disaffected with Washington, seeing it as an intrusive, incompetent, wasteful giant. Ineffective policies are caused by deep structural factors regardless of which party is in charge, bringing our government into ever-worsening disrepute. Understanding why government fails so often--and how it might become more effective--is a vital responsibility of citizenship. In this book, lawyer and political scientist Peter Schuck provides a wide range of examples and an enormous body of evidence to explain why so many domestic policies go awry--and how to right the foundering ship of state. An urgent call for reform, Why Government Fails So Often is essential reading for anyone curious about why government is in such a disgraceful state and how it can do better.