Federal Government

This textbook offers two major advantages over other textbooks. First, it is concise. Other American Government textbooks are 700-1,000 pages or more, and they come with a price tag that reflects the costly burden of purchasing such a text. To keep the cost of this text to a minimum, the author has very carefully selected core material that is essential for students to know while also providing ancillary teaching materials that supplement the text and allow educators to explore these concepts further. At just under 300 pages of written content the text provides all the customary information that you would expect to find in an American Government textbook ̶offering an in-depth overview of events from the 17th century to the present day. It explores the formation of the American colonies, the Revolutionary War, the establishment of American federalism, and the shaping of the early republic. The narrative examines significant events such as the Civil War, Reconstruction, the Gilded Age, the two World Wars, the Cold War, and major events from the modern era. The book discusses political ideologies, key figures, social movements, and the evolving role of government in response to various challenges. It concludes by examining the role of public opinion, interest groups, and political parties in shaping American governance.

The second key advantage of the textbook is that it takes an innovative approach to teaching American Government. While every other American Government textbook arranges the material thematically, this textbook takes an historical approach. There are many benefits to teaching the course in this manner. First, students benefit from learning the “story” of American political development. This benefit is absolutely essential due to the very nature of the communication process itself. Communication is a process by which the sender transmits a message, and the receiver receives that message. As human beings, we often make the mistake of assuming that others clearly understand the message that we are sending. Educators often make the same assumption. How do we know if our students understand the material that we present to them? Of course, we ask questions. We give assignments. We assess them. And many of us are shocked at the end of the semester to realize just how little of the information that we sent was actually understood. By teaching American Government as a story, rather than as discrete chunks of data, students are acquainted with more than simple facts presented in a vacuum. Students learn the evolution of ideas and institutions. Students are made aware of more than just the function of offices and institutions; they learn why those offices and institutions became necessary in the first place. The text begins with the founding of the American colonies, and it ends with the Biden administration, with every presidential election serving as milestones to keep the information anchored to concrete events rather than simply associated with abstract ideas. By arranging the material in chronological order rather than thematically, students get to witness firsthand the major political issues that surrounded every presidential election in US history from federalism to slavery to nullification to the civil rights movement and more. Students are also presented with the evolution of the two major political parties, why we have the electoral college and how it works (and doesn’t work), how the current system of presidential and vice-presidential succession developed, etc. Most importantly, teaching American Government from an historical perspective is effective. It allows students to become acquainted with the characters, setting, and storyline of the American system rather than merely memorizing definitions. This distinction provides students with the opportunity to build their own conceptual scaffolding upon which to hang key ideas and concepts in real time as they learn them. By presenting the material chronologically as a story, students are constantly connecting what they’ve learned to what they’re learning. This process makes it easier and more natural for students to retain the information long term rather than cramming for tests and forgetting it all the next day.

In short, the combination of a concise text with the chronological approach creates a more affordable, more comprehensible, and by far a more enjoyable educational experience for our students (and for us).