Approaching Democracy

These moving words — spoken in an address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress by Vaclav Havel, a former dissident Czechoslovakian playwright once imprisoned by that country’s Communist government and later elected its president — aptly capture the theme of Berman and Murphy’s seventh edition. Throughout this latest edition, the authors continue to use America’s approach to a democratic ideal as the conceptual lens through which students can evaluate the performance of our political system, apply their critical thinking skills, and engage political discussion and civic life.

New to the Seventh Edition:

- A completely new pedagogical program has been implemented, making the text an even more effective learning tool:

o Each chapter is organized around learning objectives — posed as questions — to give students a precise understanding of the concepts they are meant to understand.

o A tiered system of short summaries and marginal questions appears throughout each chapter to help students master, apply, and analyze the material.

o “Test Yourself” quizzes appear at the conclusion of each chapter to aid student study and prepare them for exams.

- “Approaching Democracy Timelines” analyze the evolution of democracy over time. “Approaching Democracy Checklists” help students analyze a single event and apply the text’s theme to it. Together, these new features provide students with a “macro” and “micro” view of the United States’ approach to a democratic ideal in every chapter.

- “Compared to What?” boxes offer an international dimension to the theme of approaching democracy.

- Each chapter has been updated to include coverage of the seismic changes that have taken place across the political landscape since the sixth edition published, including the election of Barack Obama, the sharp turns in policy implemented by his administration, the changes in the makeup and operations of the 111^th Congress, the nomination, confirmation, and appointment to the Supreme Court of Sonia Sotomayor, new information on public attitudes toward health care, gay marriage, gun control, and immigration reform, and much more. For detailed information on everything that is new to this edition, including chapter-by-chapter changes, please see pages xvi — xix of the Preface.

Updated in a new 7th edition this book is organized around the evolving nature of the American experiment in democratic government. With a clear and compelling central theme this book provides the theory and basics of American political science as well as the nation's political history.

This book covers the foundations, institutions, and process of American democracy with a clear and relevant approach in an easily readable format. It sharpens the critical thinking skills needed to analyze these evolving relationships through its multitude of new critical thinking questions and timelines.

Booknews

New edition of an introductory text which explores the evolution of American democracy. Each chapter begins with a case study. The first, which narrates the famous refusal of Rosa Parks to move to the back of the bus on December 1, 1955, exemplifies the authors' perspective that American democracy is a process, not an end result. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Larry Berman was appointed as the founding Director of the University of California Washington Center (http: //viww.ucdc.edu) in September 1999. Berman is the author or coauthor of nine books and numerous articles. In addition, he has appeared on a number of broadcasts, including Bill Moyers's Public Broadcasting System series, "The Public Mind."

Among other honors, Berman has been awarded fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the American Council for Learned Societies. Berman has received the 1996 Outstanding Mentor of Women in Political Science Award from the Women's Caucus for Political Science. He received the 1994 Bernath Lecture Prize, given annually by the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations to a scholar whose work has most contributed to our understanding of foreign relations. He is a co-recipient and collaborator in the 1990 Richard E. Newstadt Award, given annually for the best book published during the year in the field of the American presidency.

His class on the American presidency is cited in Lisa Birnbach's New and Improved College Guide as one of the most recommended classes for undergraduates at UC Davis. Berman has often conducted a series of live, interactive television programs from Washington with his undergraduate classes at UC Davis on the American presidency and American government. The programs are available from PBS Adult Learning.

In addition to his work in political science, Berman is an authority on integrating and reengineering liberalarts education with technology. He regularly presents seminars and workshops on the subject to educators across the United States and has lectured in Australia, China, Germany, Israel, and The Netherlands on American politics, foreign policy, and multimedia technology in the classroom.

An expert in American government, the presidency, and the Vietnam War, Berman's books include Approaching Democracy, The New American Presidency, Planning a Tragedy: The Americanization of the War in Vietnam, and Lyndon Johnson's War: The Road to Stalemate in Vietnam. He also coedited Foreign Military Intervention: The Dynamics of Protracted Conflict.

Bruce Allen Murphy is a nationally recognized scholar on the American Supreme Court, civil rights and liberties, judicial behavior, and judicial biography. He is currently the Fred Morgan Kirby Professor of Civil Rights in the Department of Government and Law at Lafayette College.

Murphy is the author of many publications, including the best-selling The Brandeis-Frankfurter Connection: The Secret Political Activities of Two Supreme Court justices, which received the American Bar Association's Certificate of Merit, was listed among The New York Times "Best Books for 1983, " and was serialized by The Washington Post. He also wrote Fortas: The Rise and Ruin of a Supreme Court Justice, which was nominated for both the Pulitzer, Prize and the National Book Award, and he edited Portraits of American Politics. A Reader. He is currently completing a major biography of justice William O. Douglas.

Murphy has received numerous teaching awards for his courses in Constitutional Law and American Politics. He has been a finalist in the Council for Advancement and Support of Education's national Professor of the Year competition and was cited as a Best Professor in Lisa Birnbach's New and Improved College Guide.