California Politics: A Primer - Softcover

Van Vechten, Renée B.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1483340139 ISBN 13: 9781483340135

Publisher: CQ Press, 2014

Synopsis

Renée B. Van Vechten’s concise text, California Politics: A Primer, Third Edition delivers the essential concepts and details students need to understand how California’s political system works. The thoroughly revised third edition retains and builds on all the strengths of the first two editions, including tightly organized chapters, information-packed visuals, and contemporary examples that illustrate the immediacy of state politics.

About this title

About the Author:

Renée B. Van Vechten is associate professor of political science at the University of Redlands, where she teaches courses primarily in American Government and California Politics. She received her PhD in political science from the University of California, Irvine. In 2002–03, she was a Kevin Starr Fellow in California Studies, and in 2008, was honored with the Rowman and Littlefield Award for Innovative Teaching in Political Science, the American Political Science Association′s national teaching award at that time. She is also engaged in the scholarship of teaching and learning. A lifelong resident of Southern California, she has spent the better part of her professional life studying, writing, and lecturing about California institutions.

Review:

"The Van Vechten text is balanced, covers the state’s history well for a short book, has a healthy skepticism about California’s direct democracy system, is brief, and is good value for the price.  A number of students commented that the book was easy to read, understandable, and they liked that it didn’t talk down to them. Very few Californians understand the consequences of the structural nature of many of California’s problems and Van Vechten does a good job of pointing these out."

Author: Diana Dwyre

About this edition

• Publisher: CQ Press
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1483340139
• ISBN 13: 9781483340135
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 171