Government in America

Politics matters. That is the core message of this book. We write Government in America to provide our readers with a better understanding of our fascinating political system. This eleventh edition of Government in America continues to frame its content with a public policy approach to government in the United States. We continually ask -- and answer -- the question, "What difference does politics make to the policies governments produce?" We do not discuss policy at the expense of politics, however. We provide extensive coverage of five core subject areas: constitutional foundations, patterns of political behavior, political institutions, public policy outputs, and state and local government. - Preface.