The Oxford Companion to American Politics: 2-Volume Set (Oxford Companions to Political Studies) - Hardcover

Smith, Professor Kathy; Walldorf Jr., Professor Will (C. William)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 019976431X ISBN 13: 9780199764310

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2012

Synopsis

The two-volume Oxford Companion to American Politics is the first reference work to provide detailed, in-depth coverage of all aspects of American Politics. Entries written by top scholars of American Politics surpass all previous reference material on the subject and provide scholars and students with ready access to sophisticated, comprehensive material. Long entries form the core of the book, covering such topics as climate change, terrorism, welfare policies, nuclear proliferation, voting behavior, and think tanks. Each of these entries include high-level scrutiny of the literature, history, and future of the topic. The Companion also includes a number of entries from the 2001 Oxford Companion to Politics of the World, revised as necessary to bring coverage of such topics as foreign aid, and nuclear weapons up to date.

In the current context of political gridlock, international tension, economic underperformance, and social division, scholars of American politics need to focus on more than the inner workings of their own political institutions-they must approach their work with as wide an understanding as possible. It is vital that they quickly and easily acquire knowledge of our contemporary international, as well as domestic, economic, social, and cultural conditions. The Oxford Companion to American Politics has been designed precisely to meet the full range of those needs.

About this title

About the Author

David Coates is the Worrell Professor of Anglo-American Studies at Wake Forest University. His publications include A Liberal Tool Kit: Progressive Answers to Conservative Arguments (Praeger 2007) and several sets of works on contemporary political economy and labor politics.

Reviews

This specialized encyclopedia will look very familiar to those who have used various Oxford companion volumes over the years. According to the preface, four design principles guided the inclusion of topics. First, The Oxford Companion to Politics of the World (2001) was mined for valid and significant entries to update. Second, the editorial staff recognized that “students of American politics need to know the major political actors and the institutional parameters in which they must operate” and wanted to provide a full and rigorous treatment of those topics without creating a textbook. Third, focus was placed on coverage of overseas nations with which the U.S. has had a long history of important strategic relations, with other nations included in less depth. Finally, the editor believes that anyone wishing to understand U.S. public policy must have a grasp of the systems that surround and drive it, such as finance, health care, education, and criminal justice. The more than 270 entries fall into eight broad topical areas: “Concepts, Ideologies, and Movements” (American exceptionalism, Culture wars, Keynesianism); “Foreign Countries and Foreign Relations” (Afghanistan, Global economy, Yemen); “Government, U.S.” (New Deal, State secrecy); “Groups and Organizations” (Faith-based initiatives, Underclass, Wal-Mart stores); “Issues and Policy: Economic” (Campaign advertising, Minimum wage); “Issues and Policy: Social” (Abortion, Gangs, Welfare state); “Laws” (Clean Air Act, Glass-Steagall Act); and “People” (Osama Bin Laden, First Ladies, Harry Truman.) Some entries are relatively short and simply define a topic in less than 1 page. Longer entries run to more than 10 pages and include subsections. The writing style of this title is vintage Oxford—straightforward, technically professional, and expository, without accompanying photos, charts, or graphs. There is a tremendous amount of information offered here, and this set will be welcome in academic and larger public library reference collections. --Art A. Lichtenstein

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 019976431X
• ISBN 13: 9780199764310
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 1152
• Editor: Coates Professor David