Blog
American Politics textbooks heads up
2nd April 2009
A note, with links to Amazon, on three new editions in the run up to exam time
Still not satiated by half a day of Politics, first at Portcullis then in the Square Mile (leaving before the much predicted violence broke out) I headed up to Foyle’s bookshop conscious that I need to use some of the Easter break to update my teaching notes before the summer exams.
There are three new titles out, all for much the same price, and each with their various strengths and weaknesses.
The first is an updated version of David McKay’s American Politics and Society series. I suspect teachers will be familiar with the University of Essex academic’s work. This new seventh edition follows a similar structure to earlier ones but contains lots of new features and examples, as one would expect, on the Bush presidency, the Supreme Court and the 2008 elections.
American Government: Power and Purpose is in its tenth edition and the copy I bought was the brief version. By far the smallest of the three books, this could serve as a second book for students if they are looking for one written from an American perspective as it were. If students are keen enough to want to make use of an additional text, they might also benefit from access to the free online reader, which provides access to a whole host of important and up-to-date articles on US Politics. Additionally there is online support material on the book’s contents on the publisher’s studyspace site.
The final book is the weightiest and marginally most expensive. American Politics Today by Bianco and Canon could be equally useful as Lowi, coming as it does from the same publishers. Like the previous two books, this is also updated to cover events in 2008. A nice feature is that each chapter comes with a ‘You Decide’ page outlining an issue of controversy, e.g. should campaign regulations permit unlimited contributions? This book’s online site also has video exercises.
In an ideal world we could wish that our students had access to all three books, but given budget restrictions I’m sure that teachers variously plundering the sources is the a close next best option.