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".

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• Chapter 1Introduction to American Politics1.1A Remarkable, Historic Period of Change - Ezra Klein1.2The Rebirth of American Civic Life - Robert D. Putnam1.3Inaugural Address - John F. KennedyChapter 2Political Culture and Ideology2.1Harmony and the Dream - David Brooks2.2America’s New Culture War: Free Enterprise vs. Government Control - Arthur C. Brooks2.3Left, right: The brain science of politics - Kate Gluek2.4Today’s Politics: Coalition of Transcendent vs. Coalition of Restoration - Ronald Brownstein2.5Is Rush Limbaugh’s Country Gone? - Thomas Edsall2.6Gettysburg Address - Abraham LincolnChapter 3Immigration and American Demographics3.1Not Legal Not Leaving - Jose Antonio Vargas 3.2Why the Red States Will Benefit Most from Immigration - Joel Kotkin3.3 The End of Multiculturalism - Lawrence E. Harrison3.4What America Will We Pick? - Eugene Robinson3.5I Have a Dream - Martin Luther King Jr.Chapter 4Federalism and the Constitution4.1“Countdown with Keith Olbermann” for Friday, May 15, 2009 - Keith Olbermann4.2An Iowa Fox in California’s Hen House - Editorial, The Press Democrat4.3Our Imbecilic Constitution - Sanford Levinson4.4Federalist No. 51 - James MadisonChapter 5Civil Liberties5.1Obama’s New Frame: Gun Rights Vs. The Right to Life - Jill Lawrence 5.2The courts, birth control and phony claims of ‘religious liberty’ - Barry W. Lynn5.3We are Shocked, shocked… - David Simon5.4Dead Letter Office - Dahlia Lithwick5.5Federalist No. 84 - Alexander HamiltonChapter 6Civil Rights6.1Segregated prom tradition yields to unity - Jamie Gumbrecht6.2A Father’s Journey - Frank Bruni6.3Trent Franks’s abortion claim and the manly Republican Party - Dana Milbank6.4A More Perfect Union - Barack ObamaChapter 7Congress7.1Let’s Just Say It: The Republicans Are the Problem - Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein7.2Say Goodbye to Gridlock in Washington - Ira Shapiro7.3Big State, Small State - Adam Liptak7.4The Great Gerrymander of 2012 - Sam Wang7.5Declaration of Conscience - Margaret Chase SmithChapter 8The Presidency8.1The Real Agenda - Editorial, New York Times8.2How to Measure for a President - John Dickerson8.3The Presider - Andrew Sullivan8.4The Powerless Presidency - Ryan Lizza8.5Excerpt from Speech to Congress - Abraham LincolnChapter 9Bureaucracy9.1In Artist’s Freeway Prank, Form Followed Function - Hugo Martin9.2Edward Snowden Is No Hero - Jeffrey Toobin9.3Judge Blocks New York City’s Limits on Big Sugary Drinks - Michael M. Grynbaum9.4Special Message to the Congress Recommending the Establishment of a Department of National Defense - Harry S. TrumanChapter 10The Courts10.1Obstruction of Judges - Jeffrey Rosen10.2No More Mr. Nice Guy - Jeffrey Toobin10.3Supreme Court Weighs Cases Redefining Legal Equality - Adam Liptak10.4The Cost of Compromise - Linda Greenhouse10.5Federalist No. 78 - Alexander HamiltonChapter 11Public Opinion11.1Party On, Dudes! - Matthew Robinson11.2The Rise of the Poll Quants (or, Why Sam Wang Might Eat a Bug) - Tom Bartlett11.3Pro-Life and Pro-Choice - Mark Mellman11.4The Other War Room - Joshua Green11.5Will the Polls Destroy Representative Democracy? - George Horace Gallup and Saul Forbes RaeChapter 12Political Parties12.1GOP vs. Voting Rights Act - William Yeomans12.2Conservatives, Don′t Despair - David Frum12.3The Senate′s ′Manchurian candidates′ - Steve LaTourette12.4Introducing the Purple Party - Kurt Andersen12.5Farewell Address - George WashingtonChapter 13Interest Groups13.1Shy No More, N.R.A.’s Top Gun Sticks to Cause - Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Jodi Kantor13.2For-Profit Colleges Mount Unprecedented Battle For Influence In Washington - Chris Kirkham13.3Super PACs get new use -- as lobbying arms on Hill - Dave Leventhal 13.4Federalist No. 10 - James MadisonChapter 14Voting and Elections14.1A Vast Left-Wing Competency - Sasha Issenberg14.2On Voting, Listen to John Lewis - Michael Waldman14.3Obama vs. Campaign Finance Laws - John Wonderlich14.4Concession Speech - Al GoreChapter 15The Media15.1Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable - Clay Shirky15.2The Unskewed Election - Ben Smith and Ruby Cramer15.3Tearing down the conservative echo chambe - Joe Scarborough15.4Obama, the Puppet Master - Jim Vandehei and Mike Allen15.5 5 (Weird) Ways Government is Experimenting with Social Media - Ryan Holmes15.6Mr. Hearst Answers High School Girl’s Query - William Randolph HearstChapter 16Domestic Policy16.1Zero Tolerance Lets a Student’s Future Hang on a Knife’s Edge - Barry Siegel16.2Has President Obama Done Enough for Black Americans? - George Condon Jr. and Jim O’Sullivan16.3President, Democrats must now focus on the real problem: Spending - Mitch McConnell16.4Fireside Chat - Franklin Delano RooseveltChapter 17Foreign Policy17.1Long Engagements - George Packer17.2The Case for Missile Defense - Steve Bonta17.3Fund—Don’t Cut—U.S. Soft Power - David Petraeus and Michael O’Hanlon17.4Speech Before the National Association of Evangelicals - Ronald Reagan

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".

Select Guide Rating

• Chapter 1Introduction to American Politics1.1A Remarkable, Historic Period of Change - Ezra Klein1.2The Rebirth of American Civic Life - Robert D. Putnam1.3Inaugural Address - John F. KennedyChapter 2Political Culture and Ideology2.1Harmony and the Dream - David Brooks2.2America’s New Culture War: Free Enterprise vs. Government Control - Arthur C. Brooks2.3Left, right: The brain science of politics - Kate Gluek2.4Today’s Politics: Coalition of Transcendent vs. Coalition of Restoration - Ronald Brownstein2.5Is Rush Limbaugh’s Country Gone? - Thomas Edsall2.6Gettysburg Address - Abraham LincolnChapter 3Immigration and American Demographics3.1Not Legal Not Leaving - Jose Antonio Vargas 3.2Why the Red States Will Benefit Most from Immigration - Joel Kotkin3.3 The End of Multiculturalism - Lawrence E. Harrison3.4What America Will We Pick? - Eugene Robinson3.5I Have a Dream - Martin Luther King Jr.Chapter 4Federalism and the Constitution4.1“Countdown with Keith Olbermann” for Friday, May 15, 2009 - Keith Olbermann4.2An Iowa Fox in California’s Hen House - Editorial, The Press Democrat4.3Our Imbecilic Constitution - Sanford Levinson4.4Federalist No. 51 - James MadisonChapter 5Civil Liberties5.1Obama’s New Frame: Gun Rights Vs. The Right to Life - Jill Lawrence 5.2The courts, birth control and phony claims of ‘religious liberty’ - Barry W. Lynn5.3We are Shocked, shocked… - David Simon5.4Dead Letter Office - Dahlia Lithwick5.5Federalist No. 84 - Alexander HamiltonChapter 6Civil Rights6.1Segregated prom tradition yields to unity - Jamie Gumbrecht6.2A Father’s Journey - Frank Bruni6.3Trent Franks’s abortion claim and the manly Republican Party - Dana Milbank6.4A More Perfect Union - Barack ObamaChapter 7Congress7.1Let’s Just Say It: The Republicans Are the Problem - Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein7.2Say Goodbye to Gridlock in Washington - Ira Shapiro7.3Big State, Small State - Adam Liptak7.4The Great Gerrymander of 2012 - Sam Wang7.5Declaration of Conscience - Margaret Chase SmithChapter 8The Presidency8.1The Real Agenda - Editorial, New York Times8.2How to Measure for a President - John Dickerson8.3The Presider - Andrew Sullivan8.4The Powerless Presidency - Ryan Lizza8.5Excerpt from Speech to Congress - Abraham LincolnChapter 9Bureaucracy9.1In Artist’s Freeway Prank, Form Followed Function - Hugo Martin9.2Edward Snowden Is No Hero - Jeffrey Toobin9.3Judge Blocks New York City’s Limits on Big Sugary Drinks - Michael M. Grynbaum9.4Special Message to the Congress Recommending the Establishment of a Department of National Defense - Harry S. TrumanChapter 10The Courts10.1Obstruction of Judges - Jeffrey Rosen10.2No More Mr. Nice Guy - Jeffrey Toobin10.3Supreme Court Weighs Cases Redefining Legal Equality - Adam Liptak10.4The Cost of Compromise - Linda Greenhouse10.5Federalist No. 78 - Alexander HamiltonChapter 11Public Opinion11.1Party On, Dudes! - Matthew Robinson11.2The Rise of the Poll Quants (or, Why Sam Wang Might Eat a Bug) - Tom Bartlett11.3Pro-Life and Pro-Choice - Mark Mellman11.4The Other War Room - Joshua Green11.5Will the Polls Destroy Representative Democracy? - George Horace Gallup and Saul Forbes RaeChapter 12Political Parties12.1GOP vs. Voting Rights Act - William Yeomans12.2Conservatives, Don′t Despair - David Frum12.3The Senate′s ′Manchurian candidates′ - Steve LaTourette12.4Introducing the Purple Party - Kurt Andersen12.5Farewell Address - George WashingtonChapter 13Interest Groups13.1Shy No More, N.R.A.’s Top Gun Sticks to Cause - Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Jodi Kantor13.2For-Profit Colleges Mount Unprecedented Battle For Influence In Washington - Chris Kirkham13.3Super PACs get new use -- as lobbying arms on Hill - Dave Leventhal 13.4Federalist No. 10 - James MadisonChapter 14Voting and Elections14.1A Vast Left-Wing Competency - Sasha Issenberg14.2On Voting, Listen to John Lewis - Michael Waldman14.3Obama vs. Campaign Finance Laws - John Wonderlich14.4Concession Speech - Al GoreChapter 15The Media15.1Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable - Clay Shirky15.2The Unskewed Election - Ben Smith and Ruby Cramer15.3Tearing down the conservative echo chambe - Joe Scarborough15.4Obama, the Puppet Master - Jim Vandehei and Mike Allen15.5 5 (Weird) Ways Government is Experimenting with Social Media - Ryan Holmes15.6Mr. Hearst Answers High School Girl’s Query - William Randolph HearstChapter 16Domestic Policy16.1Zero Tolerance Lets a Student’s Future Hang on a Knife’s Edge - Barry Siegel16.2Has President Obama Done Enough for Black Americans? - George Condon Jr. and Jim O’Sullivan16.3President, Democrats must now focus on the real problem: Spending - Mitch McConnell16.4Fireside Chat - Franklin Delano RooseveltChapter 17Foreign Policy17.1Long Engagements - George Packer17.2The Case for Missile Defense - Steve Bonta17.3Fund—Don’t Cut—U.S. Soft Power - David Petraeus and Michael O’Hanlon17.4Speech Before the National Association of Evangelicals - Ronald Reagan

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".

Select Guide Rating

• Chapter 1Introduction to American Politics1.1A Remarkable, Historic Period of Change - Ezra Klein1.2The Rebirth of American Civic Life - Robert D. Putnam1.3Inaugural Address - John F. KennedyChapter 2Political Culture and Ideology2.1Harmony and the Dream - David Brooks2.2America’s New Culture War: Free Enterprise vs. Government Control - Arthur C. Brooks2.3Left, right: The brain science of politics - Kate Gluek2.4Today’s Politics: Coalition of Transcendent vs. Coalition of Restoration - Ronald Brownstein2.5Is Rush Limbaugh’s Country Gone? - Thomas Edsall2.6Gettysburg Address - Abraham LincolnChapter 3Immigration and American Demographics3.1Not Legal Not Leaving - Jose Antonio Vargas 3.2Why the Red States Will Benefit Most from Immigration - Joel Kotkin3.3 The End of Multiculturalism - Lawrence E. Harrison3.4What America Will We Pick? - Eugene Robinson3.5I Have a Dream - Martin Luther King Jr.Chapter 4Federalism and the Constitution4.1“Countdown with Keith Olbermann” for Friday, May 15, 2009 - Keith Olbermann4.2An Iowa Fox in California’s Hen House - Editorial, The Press Democrat4.3Our Imbecilic Constitution - Sanford Levinson4.4Federalist No. 51 - James MadisonChapter 5Civil Liberties5.1Obama’s New Frame: Gun Rights Vs. The Right to Life - Jill Lawrence 5.2The courts, birth control and phony claims of ‘religious liberty’ - Barry W. Lynn5.3We are Shocked, shocked… - David Simon5.4Dead Letter Office - Dahlia Lithwick5.5Federalist No. 84 - Alexander HamiltonChapter 6Civil Rights6.1Segregated prom tradition yields to unity - Jamie Gumbrecht6.2A Father’s Journey - Frank Bruni6.3Trent Franks’s abortion claim and the manly Republican Party - Dana Milbank6.4A More Perfect Union - Barack ObamaChapter 7Congress7.1Let’s Just Say It: The Republicans Are the Problem - Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein7.2Say Goodbye to Gridlock in Washington - Ira Shapiro7.3Big State, Small State - Adam Liptak7.4The Great Gerrymander of 2012 - Sam Wang7.5Declaration of Conscience - Margaret Chase SmithChapter 8The Presidency8.1The Real Agenda - Editorial, New York Times8.2How to Measure for a President - John Dickerson8.3The Presider - Andrew Sullivan8.4The Powerless Presidency - Ryan Lizza8.5Excerpt from Speech to Congress - Abraham LincolnChapter 9Bureaucracy9.1In Artist’s Freeway Prank, Form Followed Function - Hugo Martin9.2Edward Snowden Is No Hero - Jeffrey Toobin9.3Judge Blocks New York City’s Limits on Big Sugary Drinks - Michael M. Grynbaum9.4Special Message to the Congress Recommending the Establishment of a Department of National Defense - Harry S. TrumanChapter 10The Courts10.1Obstruction of Judges - Jeffrey Rosen10.2No More Mr. Nice Guy - Jeffrey Toobin10.3Supreme Court Weighs Cases Redefining Legal Equality - Adam Liptak10.4The Cost of Compromise - Linda Greenhouse10.5Federalist No. 78 - Alexander HamiltonChapter 11Public Opinion11.1Party On, Dudes! - Matthew Robinson11.2The Rise of the Poll Quants (or, Why Sam Wang Might Eat a Bug) - Tom Bartlett11.3Pro-Life and Pro-Choice - Mark Mellman11.4The Other War Room - Joshua Green11.5Will the Polls Destroy Representative Democracy? - George Horace Gallup and Saul Forbes RaeChapter 12Political Parties12.1GOP vs. Voting Rights Act - William Yeomans12.2Conservatives, Don′t Despair - David Frum12.3The Senate′s ′Manchurian candidates′ - Steve LaTourette12.4Introducing the Purple Party - Kurt Andersen12.5Farewell Address - George WashingtonChapter 13Interest Groups13.1Shy No More, N.R.A.’s Top Gun Sticks to Cause - Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Jodi Kantor13.2For-Profit Colleges Mount Unprecedented Battle For Influence In Washington - Chris Kirkham13.3Super PACs get new use -- as lobbying arms on Hill - Dave Leventhal 13.4Federalist No. 10 - James MadisonChapter 14Voting and Elections14.1A Vast Left-Wing Competency - Sasha Issenberg14.2On Voting, Listen to John Lewis - Michael Waldman14.3Obama vs. Campaign Finance Laws - John Wonderlich14.4Concession Speech - Al GoreChapter 15The Media15.1Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable - Clay Shirky15.2The Unskewed Election - Ben Smith and Ruby Cramer15.3Tearing down the conservative echo chambe - Joe Scarborough15.4Obama, the Puppet Master - Jim Vandehei and Mike Allen15.5 5 (Weird) Ways Government is Experimenting with Social Media - Ryan Holmes15.6Mr. Hearst Answers High School Girl’s Query - William Randolph HearstChapter 16Domestic Policy16.1Zero Tolerance Lets a Student’s Future Hang on a Knife’s Edge - Barry Siegel16.2Has President Obama Done Enough for Black Americans? - George Condon Jr. and Jim O’Sullivan16.3President, Democrats must now focus on the real problem: Spending - Mitch McConnell16.4Fireside Chat - Franklin Delano RooseveltChapter 17Foreign Policy17.1Long Engagements - George Packer17.2The Case for Missile Defense - Steve Bonta17.3Fund—Don’t Cut—U.S. Soft Power - David Petraeus and Michael O’Hanlon17.4Speech Before the National Association of Evangelicals - Ronald Reagan