Flash Focus

Grade 7 Up–A well-organized overview of American political history. Volume 1 contains summaries of presidential elections from 1789 to 2000. Highlighted text boxes give brief facts about the candidates and the issues, and a map shows how each state's electoral votes were cast. Volume 2 covers parties from the Federalist Party, 1796-1816 to the Reform Party, begun in 1992. In addition to the familiar Republican, Democratic, Socialist, Populist, and Communist parties, lesser-known groups such as the Workingmen's Party of California (1877-'80) are described. Text boxes present brief biographies of politicians affiliated with the parties. Volume 3 groups biographies of Supreme Court justices under the chief justice with whom they served. Summaries of major cases decided by each court are included. The final volume summarizes struggles that have occurred in an effort to make the Constitution's words We the People mean more than We the White Men. These brief histories are grouped under topics such as The Fight against Slavery and The Campaign for Women's Rights. Highlighted text boxes in this volume give details of organizations, events such as raids and demonstrations, and biographies of important figures in the movements. Excerpted primary sources appear throughout the set: political platforms, writings, court opinions, and more. Each article ends with a brief list of sources, both in print and on the Web. Average-quality, black-and-white photos and reproductions illustrate these volumes. This set will be an excellent resource for both public and school libraries.–Ginny Gustin, Sonoma County Library System, Santa Rosa, CA
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The publisher claims that this high-school-level set "brings together all a student needs to explore in depth any topic in American politics," eliminating the need to turn to other resources such as primary documents, encyclopedias, and biographies. The tagline, "it's all there, it's all together, and it's a snap to use in a flash," is just a little simplistic, of course, since the student still actually has to read something!

The set deals with presidential elections, political parties, the Supreme Court, and civil rights, but it does not include the everyday workings of Congress or any information about state government. In volume 1, Presidential Elections, candidates and campaigns are chronologically arranged from 1788 to 2000, in articles of about four pages each. Volume 2, Political Parties, has a section on campaign funding plus chronologically arranged articles on major and many minor parties, for example, La Raza Unida and Natural Law Party. Volume 3, U.S. Supreme Court, is also chronological, organized under the name of each chief justice. In volume 4, Equal Rights under Law, articles are arranged by seven broad themes, such as Abolitionism and Immmigrants. There are no references to the USA PATRIOT Act or the issue of rights for gays anywhere in the set. Throughout the set, individual articles include sidebars containing summaries of important issues or brief biographical sketches, primary material in full or in excerpts, and lists of additional print and Web-based resources. All illustrations are in black and white.

This "one-stop study guide to American politics" is attractive, well illustrated, and clearly written, but it is not the only work students will need. In 2001 or even 2002 it might have been highly recommended for all high-school and public libraries. Because it doesn't include the 2004 election or any civil rights cases during the Bush administration, consider it a nice addition only where space and budget permit. Susan Gooden
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved