Clued in to Politics : A Critical Thinking Reader in American Government

Clued in to Politics is a collection of contemporary American government readings (more than half new to this edition) that uses proven pedagogy for modeling critical thinking. The editors write a contextual headnote―"why we chose this piece"―and then follow every reading with questions that employ the CLUES method: Consider the source, Lay out the argument, Uncover the evidence, Evaluate the conclusion, and Sort out the political implications. By consistently walking students through a process for close reading and analysis, students pick up the habit of critical thinking and internalize a process that moves them far beyond regurgitating information. The chapters line up with coverage in introductory American government texts.

Christine Barbour teaches in the Political Science Department at Indiana University, and directs the department’s IU POLS DC internship program. She is a faculty liaison for the University’s dual-credit program, which delivers an online version of her Intro to American Politics class to high school students across the state. At Indiana, Professor Barbour has been a Lilly Fellow, working on a project to increase student retention in large introductory courses, and a member of the Freshman Learning Project, a university-wide effort to improve the first-year undergraduate experience. She has served on the New York Times College Advisory Board, working with other educators to develop ways to integrate newspaper reading into the undergraduate curriculum. She has won multiple teaching honors, but the two awarded by her students mean the most to her: the Indiana University Student Alumni Association Award for Outstanding Faculty and the Indiana University Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists Brown Derby Award. When not teaching or writing textbooks, Professor Barbour enjoys traveling with her coauthor, blogging about food and travel, and playing with her dogs and cat. She contributes to Bloom Magazine of Bloomington and is a coauthor several cookbooks. She also makes jewelry from precious metals and rough gemstones. If she ever retires, she will open a jewelry shop in a renovated Airstream on the beach in Apalachicola, Florida, where she plans to write another cookbook and a book about the local politics, development, and fishing industry.

Matthew J. Streb is professor and chair in the Department of Political Science at Northern Illinois University. He specializes and teaches in areas of political parties, elections, polling and public opinion, and Congress. Streb is the author, editor, or co-editor of several books, including Law and Election Politics (2013), Rethinking American Electoral Democracy (2011), and Running for Judge (2007), and has published articles in journals, including Political Research Quarterly, Public Opinion Quarterly, Political Behavior, Social Science Quarterly, and American Politics Research. Streb has been recognized by the NIU Foundation for "Faculty Excellence".