Description: This concise volume fills a long-standing need for a sophisticated, brief primer on American national politics. A major theme of the book is the interplay between constitutional and extra-constitutional institutions and political processes. It provides engaging and exceptionally instructive treatments of the nuts-and-bolts of how American politics works and of the strengths of American democracy, while candidly considering gaps in representation and the issue of increasing income inequality.
Review Quotes: "well-written and of use to a lay audience interested in a few basic facts about the history of American government with a brief discussion of contemporary government" --Political Studies Review