AmGov

All the fundamentals. No fluff. Learn more with less!

A truly revolutionary American Government textbook, Christine Barbour’sAmGov: Long Story Short, responds to the needs of today’s students and instructors through brevity and accessibility. The succinct ten chapters are separated by tabs that make it easy to skim, flip, revisit, reorient, and return to content quickly. Reading aids like bullets, annotations and arrows walk students through important facts and break up the material in short, engaging bites of information that highlight not only what is important but why it’s important. Though brief, this core book is still robust enough to provide everything that students need to be successful in their American Government course. Whether for the on-the-go student who doesn’t have time to read and digest a lengthy chapter, or the instructor who wants a book that will stay out of their way and leave room for plenty of supplementary reading and activitiesAmGov provides a perfectly simplified foundation for a successful American Government course.

All the fundamentals. No fluff. Learn more with less!

A truly revolutionary American Government textbook, Christine Barbour’sAmGov: Long Story Short, responds to the needs of today’s students and instructors through brevity and accessibility. The succinct ten chapters are separated by tabs that make it easy to skim, flip, revisit, reorient, and return to content quickly. Reading aids like bullets, annotations and arrows walk students through important facts and break up the material in short, engaging bites of information that highlight not only what is important but why it’s important. Though brief, this core book is still robust enough to provide everything that students need to be successful in their American Government course. Whether for the on-the-go student who doesn’t have time to read and digest a lengthy chapter, or the instructor who wants a book that will stay out of their way and leave room for plenty of supplementary reading and activitiesAmGov provides a perfectly simplified foundation for a successful American Government course. 

READ THIS FIRST (OR NOTHING ELSE WILL MAKE SENSE)
CHAPTER 1: Politics and Citizenship
1.1. Introduction to Politics
1.2. Coming to Terms: Politics, Government, and Economics
1.3. Political-Economic Systems
1.4. American Political Culture
1.5. American Political Ideologies
1.6. Political Narratives and the Media
1.7. Mediated Citizenship
GenGap: How Our Birth Year Affects Our Politics
Big Think
Key Terms
CHAPTER 2: The United States’ Founding
2.1. Introduction to the Founding
2.2. The Social Contract
2.3. The Declaration of Independence
2.4. The Articles of Confederation
2.5. The Constitutional Convention
2.6. Ratification
2.7. Basic Constitutional Principles
2.8. Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances
2.9. Federalism and Checks and Balances
2.10. Changes in Federalism over Time
2.11. Federalism Today
2.12. Amending the Constitution
GenGap: Generational Attitudes toward the Federal Government
Big Think
Key Terms
CHAPTER 3: Civil Liberties and Civil Rights
3.1. Introduction to Civil Liberties and Civil Rights
3.2. Rights Equal Power
3.3. The Bill of Rights
3.4. Civil Liberties—Understanding the First Amendment
3.5. Civil Liberties—Understanding Due Process Rights
3.6. Civil Liberties—Understanding the Right to Privacy
3.7. Civil Rights—Battling Political Inequality
3.8. Civil Rights—The Case of Race
3.9. Civil Rights—The Case of Gender
3.10. The Persistence of Inequality in America
GenGap: Generational Attitudes toward Discrimination
Big Think
Key Terms
CHAPTER 4: The Legislative Branch
4.1. Introduction to the Legislative Branch
4.2. How the Constitution Structures Congress
4.3. How Congress Organizes Itself
4.4. The Congressional Role in Checks and Balances
4.5. Doing the Hard Work of Making Laws
4.6. Tensions That Challenge Congress’s Ability to Do Its Job
4.7. Congressional Elections
4.8. Who Runs and Who Wins? Does Congress Look Like America?
4.9. The 116th Congress
GenGap: Generational Attitudes toward the Parties
Big Think
Key Terms
CHAPTER 5: The Executive Branch
5.1. Introduction to the Executive Branch
5.2. The Job of the American President
5.3. The Evolution of the American Presidency
5.4. Presidents, Popularity, and Congress
5.5. What Is Bureaucracy, and Why Do We Need It?
5.6. The Purpose and Organization of the White House Bureaucracy
5.7. The Purpose and Organization of the Federal Bureaucracy: The Rest of the Executive Branch
5.8. Power Plays in the Bureaucracy
GenGap: Presidential Preferences across the Generations
Big Think
Key Terms
CHAPTER 6: The Judicial Branch
6.1. Introduction to the Judiciary
6.2. Kinds of Laws
6.3. The American Legal System
6.4. Who’s Who and What’s What in a Court of Law?
6.5. Equality and the Criminal Justice System
6.6. The Constitution, Congress, and the Dual Court System
6.7. The Supreme Court
GenGap: Generational Attitudes toward Justice in America
Big Think
Key Terms
CHAPTER 7: Parties and Interest Groups
7.1. Introduction to Parties and Interest Groups
7.2. Parties and Interest Groups Defined
7.3. The Role of Parties in a Democracy
7.4. Party Organization and Decision Making
7.5. The Parties Today
7.6. Interest Group Basics
7.7. Interest Group Politics
7.8. Was Madison Right to Worry?
GenGap: Party Identification and Policy Preferences across the Generations
Big Think
Key Terms
CHAPTER 8: Public Opinion, Campaigns, and Elections
8.1. Introduction to Public Opinion, Campaigns, and Elections
8.2. The Quality of Public Opinion
8.3. How Do We Know What Americans Think?
8.4. How Do We Form Our Opinions?
8.5. The Ultimate Poll—Voting in U.S. Elections
8.6. Presidential Elections
8.7. The General Election and the Electoral College
GenGap: How Younger Voters Feel about Voting
Big Think
Key Terms
CHAPTER 9: Media and Political Communication
9.1. Introduction to Media and Political Communication
9.2. Where We Get Our Information
9.3. Media Ownership and Government Regulation
9.4. What Do Journalists Do?
9.5. How Those in the Media Can Shape Political Narratives
9.6. The Stakeholders Strike Back
9.7. Imagine: How Citizens Can Reclaim the Narrative
GenGap: Mediated Citizenship across the Generations
Big Think
Key Terms
CHAPTER 10: Domestic and Foreign Policy
10.1. Introduction to Policy
10.2. Making Public Policy
10.3. Social Policy
10.4. Economic Policy
10.5. Foreign Policy
GenGap: Generational Attitudes toward Foreign Policy
Big Think
Key Terms
GLOSSARY
INDEX
AFTERWORD