Principles and Practice of American Politics

Classic and Contemporary Readings

NEW TO THIS EDITION:

• Twenty-eight new and updated essays encourage students to reflect on the continuing debates in American Politics. This new edition includes the most widely read chapter from Governing the Commons, by Elinor “Lin” Ostrom, winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, Supreme Court opinions on abortion, school desegregation, free speech and national security, and diversity in universities, a set of short essays on today’s Congress, and new readings on political identities, bureaucracy, interest groups, the media, and election reform.

KEY FEATURES:

• Chapters follow a consistent organization by introducing readers to the interests, rules, and strategic contexts of a reading’s political action in a major national political forum.
• Each selection is artfully framed by contextual headnotes to make them appropriate for classroom use.
• Original readings written specifically for the volume give the book a coherent treatment of the performance of U.S. political institutions.
• Readings can serve as a supplement or standalone text. For instructors using this text as a supplement, the collection of selected readings will animate the institutional processes described in your core text. For instructors using this text as the core reading material for the course, the collection of selected readings can stand alone and do not assume more than an elementary knowledge of American government and politics.