Essentials of American and Texas Government 2011: Roots and Reform

Updated in a new 2011 edition, Essentials of American & Texas Government provides the historical context students need to understand our government and the most crucial and controversial issues affecting the nation in the 21st century. This bestselling book has been extensively revised to provide in-depth coverage of President Barack Obama’s first two years in office and the 111th Congress, the 2010 congressional elections, continued concerns related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and domestic concerns related to health care reform and the economy.

New to the 4th Edition:

• All chapters have been updated extensively to reflect current events, including passage of health care reform, the BP oil spill, and the November 2010 congressional elections. 
• Learning objectives appear at the start of each chapter in the “What Should I Know About…” boxes to prime students for the material they are about to read and to help students navigate the chapters more efficiently. These objectives also appear in the body of the chapters and inform the structure of the “What Should I Have Learned?” summary sections and both the print and online supplements accompanying this book.
• “Test Yourself” quizzes at the end of each chapter provide students with avenues to check their understanding and reinforce each chapter’s learning objectives. Each quiz consists of ten questions: one multiple choice question (with five answer choices) for each objective, with the remaining short answer/essay questions focused on critical thinking.
• Annotations to Federalist Papers No. 10, 51, and 78 in the Appendix guide students through an analysis of these seminal documents to enhance understanding.
• Chapters 17, 18, and 19 (Domestic, Economic, and Foreign and Defense Policy) have been dramatically revised to take a case study approach and to reflect the interactions among branches in domestic, economic, and foreign policy.
• Revised Analyzing Visuals features include targeted critical thinking questions that encourage students to progressively engage in deeper understanding and analysis. These features take students beyond answering solely the “what” and help them to better focus on the “why.”
• Streamlined "Join the Debate" boxes engage students and encourage them to develop their own well-thought out arguments “for” and “against” each position. New topics in this edition include debates over the federal government’s involvement in healthcare, student loans, the election of Supreme Court justices, interest group lobbying of Congress, and partisan bias in the news media.
• "Politics Now" boxes in every chapter include new excerpts from current news articles to guide students through in-depth examinations of contemporary issues.
• Illustrated Timelines detailing the development of key issues and events in American Government now appear in every chapter with images that cue students to the appropriate subject matter discussion in the text.
• Expanded Thinking Globally features include a more substantial overview of key comparative topics, including visuals where relevant, followed by critical thinking questions that ask students to examine some of the most commonly held assumptions about how American government does or should function.
• Photo, figure, and table titles appear as questions, encouraging students to think critically about every visual element.
• Book End Papers feature a timeline that examines major events in American politics.