California Politics and Government: A Practical Approach

by Larry N. Gerston, Terry Christiansen

Concise and up-to-date, this Sixth Edition provides students with a concise synthesis of politics, policy making, and institutions in a state whose issues and complexity are unmatched anywhere. A brief "nuts-and-bolts" treatment, this text uses contemporary examples that are both appealing to read and illustrative of complex principles.

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

Reviews

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't grow up in California and I wanted to learn how to engage with it as an adult. This book covers all the basic concepts like the bicameral legislature and the responsibilities of a city versus a county. It also delves into more depth for certain topics, like San Francisco's unique mayor / supervisors structure and the number of budget crises we've weathered within recent years.

My favorite part is probably the racist history of the Progressive movement being highlighted in the first few pages, but I genuinely enjoyed the whole book as a high-level overview. This is a solid introduction to California and a good refresher on overall civics basics.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was expecting this to be a boring Civics book, but it's actually really interesting. Instead of being like "Isn't the American Way amazing? Here's why~" it says "Yeah, the California government is messed up, but not entirely. Let's go into why." If you're a Californian, it's a great book to read to understand what's going on in your state government.

[stephen baker · Rating 2 out of 5]

lousy textbook that isn't easy to read

[Lena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Soooooo dense! Oh my gosh! I am an AVID reader and I had to read this to prep for a CA gov't test and could only get thru 15 pages before I had to break to be sure the stuff was actually sinking in. It's all relevant tho, that's how the book is so short. I wouldnt try to cram it in one night if you're a student tho