Keeping the Republic: Power and Citizenship in American Politics

by Christine Barbour, Gerald Wright

Artfully weaving in the analytic theme of "power" and the evaluative theme of "citizenship," Christine Barbour and Gerald C. Wright deftly draw students into thinking critically about how and why institutions and rules determine who wins and who loses in American politics. Every section and feature in the book has one goal in to get students to think analytically and be skeptical of received wisdom.

Keeping the Power and Citizenship in American Politics is now a Media Edition . Students receive FREE access to an enhanced ebook with purchase of a print copy. Through a series of icons, students link to multimedia―audio, video, data, articles, reference, and CQ Researcher reports―right on the page where a topic is discussed. Instructors will appreciate the ebook′s assessment functionality with answers to quizzes and critical thinking questions feeding a gradebook. It′s an enhanced, enriching, and interactive learning experience.

Genres: Political Science, School, Textbooks, Nonfiction

904 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Jason Harper · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a fairly decent textbook for gaining an understanding of the basics of American government. But when the authors attempt to go beyond explaining how government works, they resort to strawmanning their opposition's stances, which does a disservice to the target audience.

[Tyler · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very ideological biased textbook

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I used this textbook for an American Government college class. It was a little frustrating because it wasn’t written objectively and it was clearly slanted toward the left. It made for an interesting class with a conservative professor, though.

[mackenzie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Kind of annoyed at how clearly slanted this was toward one side of the political spectrum. Educate me on every perspective and let me form my own opinion, don't feed me exactly what you believe. Charts and graphs were insightful, and it was an easy read with enough going on to keep my attention.

[Anthony Zupancic · Rating 2 out of 5]

Basic and unremarkable.

[Brittany Crutcher · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very biased.

The author claims to be nonpartisan, but the text leans noticeably left. Throughout the chapters, Trump criticisms are consistently woven in, even when they aren’t directly relevant to the main discussion. While the book does contain interesting and insightful content about American politics, the recurring snide commentary makes it difficult to view the text as balanced.

Conservative or Republican viewpoints are often dismissed or portrayed as inherently flawed, while liberal perspectives are frequently presented as fact. At times, those who disagree with these "facts" are implied to be uneducated or in denial. The occasional mention of conservative positions feels more like a token effort to uphold a “nonpartisan” label than a genuine attempt at balance.

If you are considering this book for a political science class, I would recommend seeking a more balanced, less biased textbook instead.

[Chloe · Rating 1 out of 5]

I conquered AP gov

[nina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read for school.

[Lily]

Read for Intro to American Government

Good for a textbook. I didn't hate myself while reading it, and some of it was actually very interesting. Great graphs.

[Library Bee · Rating 1 out of 5]

Almost done with it. I have to read it because of a intro to Politics collage class, and it's blatantly left leaning. Not vary objective when dealing with Republicans or Democrats; it hardly has anything good to say about conservatives, and constantly praises the liberals. And goes on about Democracy, but hardly talks about the Republic.

I dislike it, and only keep it as a reminder of how twisted and one-sided things have become.

Hate it, and politics.

[Jodi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this in my political science course. Very good book, but it reads like a textbook, which is what it is. Still, I really think that all US citizens should read and learn about the government for which we all participate. Not that I think everyone should read this book...

[Cortney Durbin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book for a Government class. As far as textbooks go, I'd say it's pretty great.

[Amanda Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great introductory book for those getting started in political science.