American Government and Politics Today: The Essentials, 2004-2005 Edition (with CD-ROM and [Paperback]

The best selling book for Introduction to American Government, AMERICAN GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS TODAY, THE ESSENTIALS helps students experience the excitement that comes from active, informed citizenship in a concisely organized package. Bardes, Schmidt, and Shelley?s text is renowned nationwide for its balanced, unbiased, comprehensive, and up-to-date coverage of constitutional, governmental, political, social, and economic structures and processes. The overriding theme is the importance of informed active citizenship. The pedagogy underscores this theme by soliciting critical thinking about political issues and encouraging students to become involved the political process. With keen awareness of its audience, AMERICAN GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS TODAY, THE ESSENTIALS incorporates current examples, the Internet, and other media to stimulate learning and excitement about American government. This truly interactive text gives students more than reading material--it gives them tools to become good citizens.

Barbara A. Bardes is a Professor of Political Science and Dean of Raymond Walters College at the University of Cincinnati. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree and Master of Arts degree from Kent State University, and her Ph.D. from the University of Cincinnati. She held a faculty position at Loyola University in Chicago for many years before returning to Cincinnati, her hometown, as a college administrator. Bardes has written articles on public opinion and foreign policy, and on women and politics. She has authored THINKING ABOUT PUBLIC POLICY AND DECLARATIONS OF INDEPENDENCE: WOMEN AND POLITICAL POWER IN NINETEENTH CENTURY AMERICAN NOVELS and co-authored PUBLIC OPINION: MEASURING THE AMERICAN MIND.

Mack C. Shelley II is a professor of Political Science and Statistics at Iowa State University. After receiving his Bachelor?s degree from American University in Washington, D.C., he went on to graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where he received a Master?s degree and a Ph.D. He taught for two years at Mississippi State University prior to arriving at Iowa State in 1979. Shelley has published numerous articles, books, and monographs on public policy. In 1993, he was elected co-editor of the Policy Studies Journal. His published books include THE PERMANENT MAJORITY: THE CONSERVATIVE COALITION IN THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS; BIOTECHNOLOGY AND THE RESEARCH ENTERPRISE: A GUIDE TO THE LITERATURE (with William F. Woodman and Brian J. Reichel); and AMERICAN PUBLIC POLICY: THE CONTEMPORARY AGENDA (with Steven G. Koven and Bert E. Swanson).

Steffen W. Schmidt is a Professor of Political Science at Iowa State University. He grew up in Colombia, South America, and has studied in Colombia, Switzerland, and France. He obtained his Ph.D. from Columbia University, New York, in public law and government. Schmidt has published six books and over seventy articles in scholarly journals. He is also the recipient of numerous prestigious teaching prizes, including the Amoco Award for Lifetime Career Achievement in Teaching and the Teacher of the Year award. He is a pioneer in the use of Web-based and real-time video courses and is a member of the American Political Science Association's section on Computers and Multimedia. He is on the editorial board of the Political Science Educator. Schmidt has a political talk show on WOI radio, where he is known as Dr. Politics. The show has been broadcast live from various U.S. and international venues.