Stephen L. Schechter – författare

A groundbreaking, accessible introduction to the building-block concepts of democracy and comparative civics  Designed specifically to help high-school students build critical-thinking skills, Exploring Political Ideas presents a conceptual-comparative approach to the study of the political ideas that shaped world history and continue to affect today’s political landscape. This unique approach gives students a solid grasp of the core concepts behind civics and democratic government, and shows how these concepts are applied in practice through comparisons over time, and across nations.The four-color text explores many intertwined concepts, including the uses of power and authority, the influence of political culture and political institutions, the relationships between rights and responsibilities, political participation and representation, the prerequisites of leadership and governance, and the challenges facing democratic governance in an age of rapid globalization. Each chapter illustrates the concepts through practical examples about political thinkers, leaders, ideas, institutions, and policies. Students explore historical and contemporary applications of political ideas from four perspectives: The decisions individuals makeThe interests individuals articulate and pursueThe institutions they create and work withinThe issues they to seek to resolveExploring Political Ideas is a terrific addition to public and college library collections, and ideal for high schools supporting curriculum in AP Government, civics, world history, geography, and AP social studies. No other resource unpacks the core concepts behind politics and government in this historical-comparative way that students can easily explore and digest.

Roots of the Republic shows how the Constitution was a product, not simply of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, but of a legal and philosophical tradition almost two centuries old. The editors have selected eighteen key documents in the development of that tradition and reproduced them with essays that explain what they mean, why they were written, and why they are important today. Each key document is accompanied by an interpretive essay written by a contemporary scholar. These essays focus on the importance of each frame of government and include commentaries on why they are meaningful today. Intended to help readers learn how to read and understand these documents, the book is also a handy reference and a strong introduction to the development of political thought and the debates surrounding the formation of the state governments and the federal union.