Government Books - Page 10

The Case for Big Government (The Public Square)

Jeff Madrick

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Political conservatives have long believed that the best government is a small government. But if this were true, noted economist Jeff Madrick argues, the nation would not be experiencing stagnant wages, rising health care costs, increasing unemployment, and concentrations of wealth for a narrow elite. In this perceptive and eye-opening book, Madrick proves that an engaged government--a big government of high taxes and wise regulations--is necessary for the social and economic answers that Americans desperately need in changing times. He shows that the big governments of past eras fostered greatness and prosperity, while weak, laissez-faire governments marked periods of corruption and exploitation. The Case for Big Government considers whether the government can adjust its current policies and set the country right.

Madrick explains why politics and economics should go hand in hand; why America benefits when the government actively nourishes economic growth; and why America must reject free market orthodoxy and adopt ambitious government-centered programs. He looks critically at today's politicians--at Republicans seeking to revive nineteenth-century principles, and at Democrats who are abandoning the pioneering efforts of the Great Society. Madrick paints a devastating portrait of the nation's declining social opportunities and how the economy has failed its workers. He demonstrates that the government must correct itself to address these serious issues.

A practical call to arms, The Case for Big Government asks for innovation, experimentation, and a willingness to fail. The book sets aside ideology and proposes bold steps to ensure the nation's vitality.

The Promise and Performance of American Democracy

Jon R. Bond, Kevin B. Smith

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 2.0 of 5

Not that bad. 3 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This book was written by my political science professor at Texas A&M. During lecture he would be a little more one-sided, but this book is very neutral and demostrates facts very clearly. Bond has a particular affinity for graphs and being long-winded. However, he does use some good examples to illustrate his point. All in all, the book is not that bad.

Editorial Review:

American Government courses are constantly changing because of world events and the political cycle. As you know, we just went through an election cycle that determined many governor races as well as the party in control of Congress. We incorporate all of these major changes in this new edition. In addition, there are other current issues covered in this new edition including issues of immigration, education, and the tensions of the federalist system. "The Promise and Performance of American Democracy" uses the theme of the title in each chapter to gauge how our government, including its institutions and political influences, are measuring up. Furthermore, the authors use political science theories to outline the promise and performance so you get a sense of how political scientists study the processes, politics, influences, and institutions, of American Government.

Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics, and Society

Marvin Perry, Myrna Chase, James Jacob, Margaret Jacob, Theodore H. Von Laue

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Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

A wonderful intro to morality's role in Western Civilization development 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

As an adult student, I feared having to take History 101. It was an online class, and the professor I had was not very good, but this book taught me a lot. The authors emphasize the relationship of ethics and morality with the development of western religions and governments from early Mesopotamia until 1789. For example, it helped me to understand the different viewpoints of the contemporary issues happening in the Middle East (why and how religion serves as a basis for many governments.)

If you are considering taking a History course that uses this textbook, or just want to learn more about how our world's societies have developed, I highly recommend this book. I didn't continue with History 102, but I did buy Volume II of this book series from Perry, et al., to continue my understanding world issues. Please join me!

Editorial Review:

This survey text presents the Western intellectual tradition within a chronology of political history. Known for its accessible writing style, Western Civilization appeals to students and instructors alike for its brevity, clarity, and careful selection of content. New technology resources, including Houghton Mifflin's Eduspace course management system, make learning more engaging and instruction more efficient.In the Eighth Edition, several new pedagogical features support students throughout the term. Chapter-opening focus questions direct students to important themes, while a glossary reinforces key terms and concepts. New icons in the text direct students to online resources such as maps, primary sources, and practice test questions. In addition, the new edition retains many popular features, including comparative timelines, full-color maps with physical geography essays, and primary source excerpts.

The Almanac of American Politics, 2008

Michael Barone, Richard E. Cohen

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Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The unequivocal 2006 election results suggest we have entered a new period in American politics. When America’s votes were tallied this past November, Democrats had won Election Day majorities in both the Senate and the House for the first time since 1992. The House Democrats’ margin of victory, furthermore, was very similar to the House Republicans’ popular vote margin in 1994—a harbinger, perhaps, of a new political era.
In the wake of such an eventful election, it’s no surprise that pundits on both sides of the fence are clamoring for the 2008 edition of The Almanac of American Politics—the gold standard for anyone who wants to understand the American political landscape. Once again, renowned journalists Michael Barone and Richard E. Cohen present the ultimate reference guide for everyone involved, invested, or interested in American politics. As in previous editions, the 2008 Almanac includes colorful, fascinating profiles of every member of Congress and every governor. It also includes in-depth and up-to-date political profiles of all fifty states and 435 House districts—covering everything from economics to history to, of course, politics.
Specific to this latest edition of the nation’s leading political resource is coverage of all special elections in the 109th Congress and redistricting changes in Georgia and Texas. Barone and Cohen also provide a comprehensive look at the early maneuvering and likely battlegrounds of the 2008 presidential campaign.
Complete with maps, census data, and indispensable information on topics ranging from campaign expenditures to voting records to interest group ratings, this latest edition of the Almanac of American Politics presents everything you need to know about current American politics, related in snappy prose and framed by cogent analysis.

Swim against the Current: Even a Dead Fish Can Go With the Flow

Jim Hightower

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Total reviews: 81 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Who Gave Hightower the Rose-Colored Glasses? 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

SWIM AGAINST THE CURRENT is the most positive, uplifting, optimistic book that I've encountered lately. Hightower and DeMarco present the reader with numerous real-world examples of grass-roots success in combating both big business and big politics in quite a few different arenas. The concerns in this book range from finding organically-grown food that has not been weakened or tainted by the agri-business industry to taking action against the polluters and environmental destroyers of the American coal industry. Best of all, in addition to describing the success of grass-root movements that have taken on industrial giants, the book gives us points of contact, addresses, and Web sites for those movements. Much more than just a well-deserved rant against inequities, environmental destruction, overpriced drugs, and tainted foods, this becomes a reference book that enables the reader to initiate or extend his or her own actions against industrialized societal miscreants.

The text, as one might expect, is couched in Hightower's (or is it DeMarco's?) inimitable writing style that makes his newspaper column so marvelously readable. Hightower has no reservations in "telling it like it is," and he pulls no punches when skewering the titans of industry to whom obscene profits are always of greater importance than is the good of humankind (and its fellow species upon planet Earth).

Having described what I feel are the book's strong points, I must now also address what I feel to be its two weaknesses, one major and the other much less so. To me, the book is almost too optimistic, too positive, as though it were celebrating prematurely the victory of grassroots common sense over capitalistic profiteering. Not to diminish the successes recounted in this book, but I also happen to live by a town which recently abolished its entire recycling program because it wasn't economically profitable for the city coffers. I cannot help thinking that, for each victory that made it into the book, there is a defeat somewhere that did not. The book seems to radiate an almost Pollyanna-ish atmosphere, an unrealistically optimistic assessment of the state of things. Oh, I realize that the entire purpose of SWIM AGAINST THE CURRENT is to show what can be accomplished by common folk with sufficient determination. Still, the resultant picture seems a bit too much on the rosy side.

The lesser weakness is that, as well-written as this is, it is not a timeless book that our great-grandchildren will hasten to pick up. It is a book for today and is designed to inspire the reader to action now. The examples and organizations appearing in it may not speak to a reader fifty years, much less a century or so, from now. Again, I confess that what I see as a small weakness falls well outside the purview of the writers, for their concern is indeed with the here and now, with goading all of us into action while there is still time to halt global warming and the emasculation of our food and the removal of the mountains that inspire us spiritually. Still, considered as literature, the impact of the book is of somewhat limited duration.

All in all, this is a better-than-decent book on social activism and one that contains specific contacts helpful for one to become engaged in the struggle. It deserves a good reading, but do so some time this decade, at least.

Editorial Review:

America’s most irascible and hilarious curmudgeon turns a kind and benevolent eye toward brave, hardy, and hardworking souls around the country who have found ways to break free from corporate tentacles; redefine success in business, politics, and life in general; and blaze new pathways toward a richer and happier way of life, from the farmers’ cooperative that said “NO!” to Wal-Mart and thrived to the economists who got into the coffee business by accident and turned the entire industry on its ear.

American Defense Policy

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Editorial Review:

American Defense Policy has been a mainstay for instructors of courses in political science, international relations, military affairs, and American national security for over 25 years. The updated and thoroughly revised eighth edition considers questions of continuity and change in America's defense policy in the face of a global climate beset by geopolitical tensions, rapid technological change, and terrorist violence.

On September 11, 2001, the seemingly impervious United States was handed a very sharp reality check. In this new atmosphere of fear and vulnerability, policy makers were forced to make national security their highest priority, implementing laws and military spending initiatives to combat the threat of international terrorism. In this volume, experts examine the many factors that shape today's security landscape -- America's values, the preparation of future defense leaders, the efforts to apply what we have learned from Afghanistan and Iraq to the transformation of America's military, reflection on America's nuclear weapons programs and missile defense, the threat of terrorism, and the challenges of homeland security -- which are applied to widely varied approaches to national defense strategy.

This invaluable and prudent text remains a classic introduction to the vital security issues facing the United States throughout its history and breaks new ground as a thoughtful and comprehensive starting point in understanding American defense policy and its role in the world today.

American Government: Continuity and Change, 2008 Texas Edition (4th Edition)

Karen O'Connor, Larry J. Sabato, Stefan Haag, Gary A. Keith

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Editorial Review:

Guided by the belief that students must first understand how American and Texas government developed to fully grasp the issues facing the United States and Texas in the 21st century, O'Connor/Sabato/Haag/Keith offers the strongest coverage of both history and current events of any college text devoted to American and Texas politics. This best-selling book provides the historical context students need to understand both levels of government and the most crucial and controversial issues affecting their state and nation. The Texas Edition includes seven complete chapters on Texas government and politics and has been extensively revised to provide the most in-depth and current coverage of the 2006 midterm elections, the second George W. Bush administration, the Iraq War, and increasing controversies related to the conduct of the war on terrorism, including renewed calls for additional congressional oversight of the Executive Branch. The new edition also emphasizes the extent to which shared political values shape and affect national and state policy and influence key political conflicts.

Politics in America, California Edition (7th Edition) (MyPoliSciLab Series)

Thomas R. Dye, Milton Clarke

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Good introductory-level textbook. 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I just finished taking a class called "Introduction to American Politics" and this was our only textbook. I found the textbook to be easy to read, clearly written, and factually accurate. I fear that many students, like myself, who have already studied some in this area may find the book to be too simplified, and will get bored reading about the basics of material which is already familiar to them. The book is great for the novice, but is definitely not upperclassmen material.

Editorial Review:

For courses in American Government.

 

With a focus on conflict and the struggle for power and a powerful supplements package, this textbook ignites students' interest in American politics.

 

This balanced and exceedingly readable text uses Harold Laswell's classic definition of politics–“Who gets what, when, and how”–as a framework for presenting a clear, concise, and stimulating introduction to the American political system. Updated with discussions of recent events in our country, well-known political scientist Tom Dye has written a lively and absorbing narrative examining the struggle for power: the participants, the stakes, the processes, and the institutional arenas. An abundance of feature boxes explore timely issues and opinions, draw cross-cultural comparisons, and introduce important people.

State and Local Government

David Saffell, Harry Basehart

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Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

State and Local Government 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 11 people found this review helpful.

Very fast delivery, without having to pay for speedy deliver. Also the lowest price I found, and book was in great condition.

Editorial Review:

Beginning with the first edition in 1978, State and Local Government: Politics and Public Policies has been relied upon to present a concise, readable analysis of the structure and operation of state and local government. In this thoroughly updated edition, Saffell and Basehart emphasize how policies made in state capitals and city halls have an impact on our everyday lives, and they draw attention to ways in which students can become active participants in the affairs of their communities. . .

Chomsky on Anarchism

Noam Chomsky

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Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

We all know what Noam Chomsky is against. His scathing analysis of everything that’s wrong with our society reaches more and more people every day. His brilliant critiques of—among other things—capitalism, imperialism, domestic repression and government propaganda have become mini-publishing industries unto themselves. But, in this flood of publishing and republishing, very little ever gets said about what exactly Chomsky stands for, his own personal politics, his vision of the future.

Not, that is, until Chomsky on Anarchism, a groundbreaking new book that shows a different side of this best-selling author: the anarchist principles that have guided him since he was a teenager. This collection of Chomsky’s essays and inter-views includes numerous pieces that have never been published before, as well as rare material that first saw the light of day in hard-to-find pamphlets and anarchist periodicals. Taken together, they paint a fresh picture of Chomsky, showing his lifelong involvement with the anarchist community, his constant commitment to nonhierarchical models of political organization and his hopes for a future world without rulers.

For anyone who’s been touched by Chomsky’s trenchant analysis of our current situation, as well as anyone looking for an intelligent and coherent discussion of anarchism itself, look no further than Chomsky on Anarchism.

Noam Chomsky is one of the world’s leading intellectuals, the father of modern linguistics, an outspoken media and foreign policy critic and tireless activist. He lives in Boston, Massachusetts.