CQ Press
The American presidency; origins and development, 1776-2007, 5th ed.
Milkis (politics, U. of Virginia) and Nelson's (political science, Rhodes College) updated edition of their textbook provides students with an introduction to the American presidency, now taking into account the first six and a half years of the George W. Bush presidency, including the 2004 and 2006 elections, the war in Iraq, and the decline in the president's political standing. In addition, the authors have refined the writing and analysis throughout the text, and have incorporated important new scholarship on the origins and development of the presidency. Academic but accessible to the general reader. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
CQ's politics in America, 2008; the 110th Congress.
The 535 entries in the 2008 edition of this biennial reference are arranged alphabetically by state and supplemented by a demographic description of each representative's district. The entries provide a two-page political profile of the senator or representative and cite the congressperson's committees, education, religion, election results, votes on recent bills, and ratings by four advocacy groups. The introduction to the 2008 edition summarizes census population estimates for districts impacted by recent hurricanes. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
The George W. Bush legacy.
Campbell (U. of British Columbia), Rockman (Purdue U.), and Rudalevige (Dickinson College) present the latest in a series of texts analyzing presidential legacies. The 14 articles contained here provide varied views on the legacy of George Walker Bush, who has by almost all accounts headed a consequential presidency. Among the key themes examined are the responsiveness or lack thereof of the Bush presidency to public opinion, political polarization and the war in Iraq, Bush's expansive conception of executive power, administrative centralization and politicization and its impact on policy formulation, judiciary appointments and executive authority, passivity in foreign policy, ideological entrepreneurship within the administration in the realms of regime change and military transformation, Bush's winner-take-all style in legislative relations, and administration management of organized interests. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
The good citizen; how a younger generation is reshaping American politics.
Against the literature bemoaning the decline of citizenship in the United States, Dalton (political science, U. of California at Irvine) argues that shifting demographics and generational change are instead heralding merely a shift in citizenship norms. He argues that American society is witnessing a shift from more traditional duty-based citizenship, which stresses voting, paying taxes, belonging to a political party, and similar concepts of the formal obligations and rights of citizenship, to norms of "engaged citizenship," which promotes other forms of political action, from volunteerism to public protest, and is shaped by different political values, including distrust of government, support for social programs, and political tolerance. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Investigative journalism; proven strategies for reporting the story.
Gaines, long an investigative journalist with the Chicago Tribune and a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner (now an instructor at the U. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), presents an introductory textbook accessible to undergraduate students on the craft of investigative reporting. He has organized his treatment into chapters covering the role of the investigative reporter; how to investigate and pitch a story; investigating a person, place, or entity; using the Internet during investigations; investigating those who guard the public (e.g. firemen); examining the police and the courts; investigating charities, nonprofit organizations, and foundations; investigating governments; reporting on consumer fraud; investigating health care; investigating businesses; and special topics and tricks of the trade. Each chapter includes at least one real world case study, a chapter recap, and class assignments. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Mass communication; living in a media world, 2d ed.
Centering his ideas on the concept of media as central to people's lives, Hanson (journalism, West Virginia U.) provides a textbook on mass communication that covers print and electronic media, advertising, public relations, law, diversity, and ethics. This edition incorporates recent developments such as the consolidation of media ownership, the rise of interactivity, and the importance of the internet. It also has a stronger media literacy focus, with principles called Seven Truths addressed in all chapters, as well as considering the significance of long-tail media economics. New chapters on the social effects of the media and global media are included. The chapters on radio and the recording industry have been combined. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
The Middle East, 11th ed.
This textbook provides an overview of Middle East politics and history as viewed from the perspective of US foreign policy makers. It presents chapters summarizing basic facts about Islam, the Arab- Israeli conflict, the Persian Gulf wars and their consequences, oil and gas economics and politics, and US policy. It also contains profiles of Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, the Palestinian Authority, the Persian Gulf states, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, and Yemen that provide capsule histories and brief discussions of current political issues. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
The politics of gun control, 4th ed.
Spitzer (political science, State University of New York-Cortland) looks at the gun control debate within a social regulatory policy framework in this work for students and general readers. As a member of both the National Rifle Association and the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, Spitzer provides balanced treatment of the social and cultural roots of the controversy, the interpretation of the Second Amendment, the criminological consequences of guns and gun control, and key organizations and institutions involved in gun policymaking. Drawing on international relations theory, he proposes a new way to achieve political accommodation among gun control supporters and opponents. This fourth edition reflects events and policies since the late 1990's. Spitzer is the author of 11 books, and is a frequent contributor to major television and print media outlets. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
The politics of news; the news of politics, 2d ed.
Identifying the three major stakeholders concerned with political news to be the news producers, government and politicians, and the public, Graber (U. of Illinois at Chicago, US), McQuail (U. of Amsterdam, the Netherlands), and Norris (Harvard U., US) present 12 papers that examine issues of political reporting from each of theses perspectives and from an overall contextual perspective. They include discussion of political journalist perceptions in the advanced industrial democracies; changing journalist roles in Russia; guidelines for journalism professionals as formulated by the American public television journalist Jim Lehrer; news management by government executives in the US, Germany, and Britain; public relations experts' manipulation of journalists; media exposure of deceptive political advertisements; voter reception of political advertisements; shifting levels of public attention to political news; the incompatibility of the citizenship and profit missions of the media; the role of audience interest in determining the nature of political news; and the global impacts of technological developments. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
The presidency A to Z, 4th ed.
Which president asked which future president to negotiate the purchase of the New Orleans? What were the issues under debate in Clinton v. City of New York and Clinton v. Jones? According to newspaper polls, who were the most and least effective presidents? This goes far beyond merely providing biographies of powerful middle-aged white guys and includes extensive entries on the political, social and cultural issues of the presidency and the executive function in US government. The articles are remarkably objective, considering the volatile nature of the people, ideas and events under study, and articles include very handy cross-references, a set of reference material on the presidents and the presidency, and a general bibliography. The index is organized to be particularly helpful for general readers and the editors have updated materials on events such as Hurricane Katrina and concepts such as unitary executive theory and unilateral action. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
U.S. foreign policy; the paradox of world power, 2d ed.
Hook (political science, Kent State U.) provides an in-depth, yet concise overview of United States foreign policy in this textbook that is intended to illustrate what Hook sees as the paradox of US power. Offering chapters on the historical expansion of US power, the dynamics of decision making, the policy roles of Congress and the bureaucracy, the impact of public opinion and mass communications, the activities of social movements and interest groups, national security and defense policy, economic statecraft, transnational policy problems (e.g. managing the global commons, immigration, weapons proliferation, and human rights and democracy promotion), the text is also intended to serve as a concise overview of US foreign policy processes that is accessible to "students at all levels," presumably meaning undergraduate and above. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Washington information directory, 2007-2008.
The latest edition of this resource text provides researchers and general readers a one-stop source for finding contacts at U.S. government and nongovernmental agencies and organizations in Washington, D.C. It features some 10,000 entries, organized into 19 major topic chapters further arranged by subcategory. The text includes fully updated contact information for members of the 110th Congress, including newly restructured congressional committees and other critical updates following the 2006 election cycle; a streamlined table of contents; revised information for all major government agencies; and new information on groups involved with war and conflict issues. Each entry includes the name, address, telephone and fax numbers of the organization; name and title of the director or best person to contact for information; press, hotline, and TTY numbers and Internet addresses whenever available; and a description of the work performed by the organization. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
