united states government: our democracy textbook pdf

Reviewed by Jeremiah Castle, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Metropolitan State University of Denver on 8/17/20, An innovative inclusion is that, in addition to the standard chapter on federalism, American Government (2e) also includes a separate chapter (14) on State and Local Governments. I did not see anything that I would say is not accurate, as much as a couple items that need to be updated, but that is discussed below. Given the nature of an American politics course, I don't frequently see my colleagues, nor do I, order concepts much differently than they are ordered in this book. There is a very broad selection of examples relating to variety of races, ethnicities, and backgrounds--the Civil Rights chapter is a good example. Textbooks Submitted By: Daproim Africa Proofread By: Daproim Africa Usage Restrictions: This is a copyrighted book. I see no reason why that would be different with this text. There are questions and glossary words at the end of each chapter to help clarify issues. The relevance of content is a real strength of this text. I believe ample coverage of diverse viewpoints and experiences are made use of in this text. The Bill of Rights. In general, I am impressed by the amount of thought and research that has gone in to preparing this edition. The index is comprehensive, and it helpfully allows the reader to link directly back to the text. The content of the text features contemporary examples and events situated within historical and theoretical contexts. Yes, the book is internally consistent in terms of its discussion and its presentation of information. Most textbooks for undergraduates in this topic area The textbook does not include much material on current elections, but an instructor can easily add his or her own supplemental materials. I would reduce the number of "in order to" and replace with "to" in many sentences. The structural framework of the chapters maintains a similar design throughout. The content is mostly up to date. By reorganizing the information contained in the chapters, it will be easier for the reader to follow the data if it is in a table format. Students at all levels will have no difficulty with the language used therein. While some sentences are a bit languid and I might have organized thoughts differently, there is no direct error in any sentence that I could see. This progression is evident, for example, in the learning objectives that begin each section of the text. Sections open with learning objectives that tell students the 2-5 most important things to take away from that reading, and quiz questions populate the text at the end of sections to help students self assess their understanding of the reading. I saw no problems here. The is consistent in its use of terminology, and the frameworks that it provides are generally helpful and clear. The point-by-point "Summary" section is a great way for students to review the main ideas in the chapter. Overall there are no major things to complain about here. That said, many of what appear to be hotlinks in the text did not work when I tested them in December 2018. These examples were not solely places in the civil right unit, but incorporated throughout the text; which is significant. It is divided into five sections, which makes it easily approachable to both instructor and student. Right from the get go I enjoyed the section on Civic Engagement as many textbooks do not cover civic engagement to the level it was covered in this text. Chapter three necessitates a revision in order to re-create its relevance. It contains every topic I cover and more in an Introductory course. Following this is a separate section on media, parties, and interest groups. One of many things I like about this textbook is that it is well organized throughout. Excellent use of sub-sections in each chapter. Exam Weighting (Multiple-Choice Section) Unit 1: Foundations of American Democracy. have even added very impressive policy chapters (domestic and foreign) that you only see on occasion. Faculty involved in the project have endeavored to make government workings, issues, debates, and impacts meaningful and memorable to students while maintaining the conceptual coverage and rigor inherent in the subject. This is tricky, as some American politics textbooks emerge from an activist mentality of pointing out howfor lack of a better termmessed up American culture can be. It does a good job of defining terms used in the text and citing relevant sources. 5.0. The Greeks are often credited with pioneering a . There are long stretches of well written but long winded paragraphs. In a couple instances such as above, they simply need to be done. There are even two chapters on public policy, which many basic textbooks omit. The text does not contain any grammatical errors. Each subsection has a quick review at the end to help readers see if they understand the section. read more. The text offers a consistent presentation of terms situated within a logical and approachable framework for college students. read more. United States Government Our Democracy View larger image. the text covers many inclusive and powerful cases of civil rights from African Americans and the Civil Rights Movement to women's suffrage to Occupy Wall Street. However, the concepts are so strong here (thorough, well laid out) that an instructor could easily supplement the text for a variety of courses and levels. The text is free of interface issues; charts and graphics are clear and are explained and analyzed. Well-regarded global democracy indexessuch as Freedom House, 2 Varieties of Democracy, 3 and the Economist Intelligence Unit 4all show an erosion of American democracy since 2016. Similar to other Introduction to American Government textbooks this book covers the typical material and then some. This course must give freshman students the conceptual baseline tools to advance to the next grade. The only section that I would point to specifically that I think could be improved significantly comes in Chapter 2, Section 5 and the discussion of Constitutional Change. I did not notice anything plainly inaccurate. I believe the language used in the text is entirely appropriate for an introductory college course on the subject. democracy, literally, rule by the people. One important tenet of this system is democracy, in which the ultimate power rests with the people. SKU: b117200 . The supplementary material within each chapter/section like Finding Middle Ground and Milestone can be an effective tool for the instructor to use for additional student engagement or an activity as such go deeper into a particular concept than mere text can. However, this text would need to be updated after all national elections (mid-term and presidential). The use of terminology appears to be consistent between chapters and is a strength of the textbook as repetition is valuable for student retention of a particular term or concept. Please read our Terms of Use and Privacy Notice before you explore our Web site. The interface is very easy to use, with no navigation problems or distracting features. It is difficult to be so comprehensive and not lose the forest for the trees at times. Chapter . Adopting profs should read the chapters carefully so they know what areas get deeper coverage, and what areas get shallower treatment. Because the textbook has less of an editorial voice, it is easier to move chapters around. Coverage same as most standard Am Gov textbooks, with chapters organized same as most (expensive) standard texts and each chapter about as long as standard texts. The text is evenly written with no discernible bias. In fact, in several places the book includes specific discussion of how the subject relates to minority or historically underrepresented or repressed communities that other texts tend to ignore (e.g. I found the text to be eminently user friendly with no issues what so ever navigating within the chapters. read more. The inclusion of the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, selected Federalist Papers and electoral college results will aid the student in referencing those materials over the instructor including a link (to be lost) or the student conducting a search. I note there is a link to the homepage of those repositories in the text. Prior to reviewing this text, I was not very familiar with open source textbooks. read more. It covers necessary topics clearly and comprehensively. These hyperlinks will distract the reader. The accuracy of the content presented in the Kurtz et al book is as accurate and unbias as one would expect. The text is not culturally insensitive, supplying context to why the Founders created the government originally and how it has evolved. Particularly well written is the "Approach to Foreign Policy, p. 650, especially, the "Classic Approach" and the more recent history of U.S. foreign policy. Chapter 2. I have detected nothing in the text that could be considered culturally insensitive or offensive. All of the topics you would expect to be covered in an American government 101 course are here: origins of our republic, institutions, individual action and collective action. If anything, as I noted above, breaking chapters into even more sections or sub-dividing those sections would enhance the ability of the instructor to chunk material. There are areas where graphics examples could be updated; a few of the federalism chapter charts are using 2014 data. I spotted no factual inaccuracies, and the text does not belay any obvious political bias. The overall structure moves formal institutions to the back of the book which is different than how I structure my course but the chapters are modular and allow the professor to assign chapters independently and mix and match to lecture chapters. Fourth, the idea that the winner-take-all approach to election is the reason for the two-party system is a conventional and weak argument, and there are no citations to back up the text (pp. In this textbook, you will find a built-in structure that helps you identify the key concept in every lesson and see it in action. The book is consistent in terms and focus. The text is impressively comprehensive, both with respect to its range of coverage and depth of discussion of each topic. read more. The content delivers plenty of perspective for students to learn about American government. The book seems to presume knowledge of the concept based on preceding chapters. Overall it is a bit smaller in word count than a traditional hard copy textbook and some of the chapters are smaller than I would like. Thankfully, though, the chapters are easy to move around. This means that pretty much every major topic you could want is in this book and all you have to do is choose which chapters you want to cover. I found the organization of chapters a bit unconventional, and certainly different than the way I teach this course. This matters very much for American government texts, and the author has done a very good job here mixing long-standing historical examples with contemporaneous material. Some of the pages could use a little more color to add some pop. The material is easily divisible. I found no appreciable factual errors and appreciate the wealth of source material provided therefor. Overall, the textbook provides accurate information, but there are some places where it comes up short in this regard, and a few statements made in the book are not as clear as they could be. The book is internally consistent. "in order to" was overused. Changes like these are expected and I do not think that this would be too difficult to do. But chapters are broken up into 5 or so modules, so it could be assigned that way. The writing is clear and concise. I think it would be interesting to point out that when the USA had the chance to write other countries' constitutions, those new systems (Japan and West Germany) were created with parliamentary governments. For example, Chapter 1, Section 3 has a discussion on civic engagement along with colorful graphs and data pertaining to 18-29 yr olds and their political participation. It covers all the areas that may be taught in an American Government intro class. Examples used are inclusive of a variety of races, ethnicities, and gender. The text can easily be consumed in small portions without sacrificing a broader understanding of the material. In particular, I would like to see some more/more direct discussion of motivated reasoning. Mrs Doering s Classroom Government Wikispaces. The chapters have a mix of history, current facts and evidence along with key concepts traditional of American government texts. The index is thorough and easily navigable with direct links to the The chapters are arranged in a way that makes sense to the material. I use review questions in each chapter for mandatory homework. Foundations of American Government. Chapter 2: The Origins of American Government Similar t the question about modularity, the organization and flow of the book is partially a matter of the author and editor's preference. It is well-written and proof-read. The writers also relied on tons of well-referenced outside sources that can easily be reorganized and incorporated into additional units. As a form of government, democracy has been practiced for over 2,500 years, though in different forms, such as direct democracy of the ancient Athenian are excellent for visual learners and certainly enhance the message of each section/chapter. read more. Each chapter starts with basic concepts and moves discussion toward topics which need more critical thinking. The textbook is consistently outlined. In my classes using the book, I have done quite a bit of rearranging. In general, the content is suitably up to date, although some tables and figures should probably be updated soon. Page_number_confidence 94.70 Pages 922 Pdf_module_version 0.0.20 Ppi 386 Related-external-id urn:isbn:0078786886 urn:oclc:435012046 urn:isbn:0078784050 urn:isbn:0078747627 urn:oclc . From the origins of the US political system, the constitutional framework, participatory inputs, formal institutions, and public policy, the major points are By the standards of Introduction to American Politics textbooks, this is a comprehensive offering. There is no unifying logic, but the lack of this epistemological perspective is one strength of the book. } The textbook is well-written and clear. The United States Government Manual. All about United States Government Our Democracy Textbook is exactly what you need. While I am echoing this notion from a previous review, I did find it to be true that Kurtz et al. Gun-rights groups believe that the Second Amendment gives citizens the right to own and carry guns. According to The text is internally consistent in terms of terminology and framework. The textbooks language is not as direct and as appealing to the pedagogical style of this new generation of students. Donald A. Ritchie, Richard C. Remy. It is easy to navigate, the images/charts are relevant and clear, and all other display features serve to enhance the key point, theory, etc. The book includes internal links to all notes and figures within the text, and also external web links where relevant. The Iroquois Confederacy, founded by the Great Peacemaker in 1142 1, is the oldest living participatory democracy on earth 2. Instructor and student resources are need improvement. In reviewing the table of contents, I found the book has a logical flow that begins with defining what government is and then proceeds to provide information on the critical subjects of our The first unit of the text ('Students and the System') outlines the necessary historical context without getting too bogged down in general introduction. But I would rather have it smaller so I From an aesthetic perspective, the textbook has a fair amount of graphic material that is appealing to students. Some may view this as a benefit, as there is more room for each instructor to add their own "big story" to their courses. Basics of American Government - University of North Georgia The text is very up to date, using examples from as recently as 2016. Reviewed by Matthew Jacobsmeier, Associate Professor, West Virginia University on 4/15/20, The book covers all the main topics that good introductory American Government textbooks typically cover and also includes chapters on topics that are not covered in detail in many textbooks. Separation of powers refers to the process of dividing government into different branches and giving . The graphics, photos, and primary documents add a visual appeal as well as provide students to other literacies. I will likely use this book to replace and supplement my graduate level course materials. Analysis of political institutions is well-balanced with substantial attention to the role of the individual and collective action. The book is very comprehensive. Style is straightforward. This is a hard aspect of any textbook. As a teacher of history also, I especially look for historical accuracy. The online availability is of course also excellent for today's students. I believe this textbook is a comprehensive and well written vehicle to aid the instructor and enhance student learning. Second, key terms in Chapter 17 are wanting. The framework of the text is consistent and simple to understand. At the same time, given the overall quality of this book and the money my students would save if I assigned it, I am seriously considering changing texts for the first time in over a decade. Pricing for school accounts will display in the cart once you are logged in. This organization allows instructors and students to easily reference particular sub-units of content. Within each unit, the chapters are structured to provide connections between topics that build upon the prior chapter's learning objectives . There is a vibrant discussion in modern research on the balance between socialization and genetics in public opinion research that should be included. Identify Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln as leaders of our democracy: Connect with: Strand 1 Concept 4. By breaking each chapter into sections, the modularity of the textbook itself is enhanced and should allow the instructor to break apart and/or chunk particular sections of interest. I suspect students will read the chapters as rather lengthy. Publication date 2003 . The coverage of competing philosophies of Judicial Activism and Judicial Restraint in Chapter 13, Section 5 nicely presents these approaches to novice readers. The various appendixes include This is the easiest area for remarks for this review. The new survey of the public's views of democracy and the political system by Pew Research Center was conducted online Jan. 29-Feb. 13 among 4,656 adults. Also, each chapter sticks to an identical structure. In the course of using this textbook, I have discovered no significant errors. text-decoration: underline; Also, discussions are not biased toward any political ideology. The word "democracy" comes from the Greek word "demos" which means "people." The word "democracy" is not used anywhere in the U.S. Constitution. The material could easily be reorganized or covered in a different sequence at the discretion of the instructor without much disruption. 33. One Day University presents a series of audio lectures recorded in real-time from some of the top minds in the United States. The book is comprehensive, covering the major topics one would expect to find in a U.S. government textbook. The book was very culturally sensitive but more could be added throughout each chapter. Comprehensive in terms of concepts and how they related to current ideas. Most of the chapters are accurate but I found two main problems: the map on different types of government (Chapter 1) and the chronology of the Bill of Rights (Chapter 2). Your idea of relevance is not really relevant. This topic will require frequent updating. The authors certainly did not skimp on providing information nor did they fail to provide source material in most instances. And the text generally attempts to present its material in a balanced and unbiased way, presenting several perspectives on controversial issues. This is not, however, a reason not to use the book as currently written and hope that it is appropriately updated in the years ahead. I have also discovered no instances in which the presentation seems unduly slanted or biased. However, after assigning the questions, I found that the 'full online' version has the review questions INTEGRATED into the text (scattered in the chapter) AND provides ANSWERS to them. Cumulative Hands-On Chapter Projects and additional Technology Extension activity provide authentic performance assessment. I have found that with any textbook, it is always necessary to supplement by lecture with current information that is not in the textbook. That might help to draw students into the material earlier in the semester, that is if you teach the chapters in order. Foundations of Our Democracy (Aug 22-26) Monday: Roots of Democratic Government - All About Me (Assignment) . Students may struggle with somewhat dated, routine examples. The text is a fully integrated print-digital solution for students and teachers. Overall, this is a solid choice in terms of comprehensiveness. This is the first time that I have thoroughly reviewed an open source textbook for potential use in a course, and I was impressed by the overall quality of the book. Even the most "controversial" chapters - civil rights and liberties, for example - are well-handled and I can't imagine a reasonable basis for students' balking at them. The book is actually slightly longer and denser than other texts I have assigned for an introductory course in American American Government is a very comprehensive textbook. Terminology is placed bolded for easy identification. The organization and structure are good. Overall I find the writing to be at an appropriate level for first-year college students. There are chapters on media literacy, public opinion and polls, civic engagement, that might be taken separately from the actual discussion of government structure. I will admit, however, I could not get the hyperlinks to work.

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