Democracy Under Pressure (with PoliPrep) [Hardcover]

Milton C. Cummings (Author), David Wise (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0534630901 | ISBN-13: 978-0534630904 | Publication Date: December 23, 2004 | Edition: 10TH 05

A political science text for the 21st Century, DEMOCRACY UNDER PRESSURE has provided well over a million students with a comprehensive look at the fundamentals of American Government. Milton Cummings, a respected scholar and academic, and David Wise, a best selling author and political analyst, bring their talents to bear on a text that conveys a balanced, realistic guide to American politics while describing the institutions of American government. In this edition, the theme of "democracy under pressure" is highlighted more fully in the narrative and in the boxed features that focus students on the way democracy responds to needs and demands of various groups over time. The text includes a discussion of the systems approach - a framework of analysis that discusses the political process in terms of inputs and outputs - as well as a key question and related questions to consider in each chapter. DEMOCRACY UNDER PRESSURE focuses throughout on the gap that exists between rhetoric and reality in government today. Streamlined content in this edition makes the book even more accessible and appealing to students and instructors alike.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"I've used just about very text for the introduction to American government course. . . . The clarity, style, content, and pedagogy of DEMOCRACY UNDER PRESSURE ranks with the best of them--especially the grace of writing. It is far livelier than one usually finds in such a text."

"The key factor why I decided to adopt past and present editions of Cummings and Wise was its readability. . . Other strengths are its stronger institutional chapters and its reliance on systems theory which I view as the best way to explain American politics. . . ."

"I really like the 'American Past' boxes. They are relevant, interesting, sometimes humorous, and always thought-provoking."

About the Author

Milton C. Cummings, Jr. (Ph.D. Harvard University) is an award-winning educator who received his undergraduate degree from Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. After two years of graduate study in England, where he was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, he earned a Ph.D. in political science at Harvard University. Professor Cummings worked for six years at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., where he did research and writing on American government and politics. He then joined the political science faculty at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, where he has been honored with numerous awards. These include the George Owen Teaching Award, the Edward H. Griffin Award, and several other citations for outstanding teaching. He has also received fellowships and grants for research from the Social Science Research Council, the National Science Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Guggenheim Foundation.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 800 pages
• Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing; 10TH 05 edition (December 23, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0534630901
• ISBN-13: 978-0534630904
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #164,766 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Long Examples, March 4, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Democracy Under Pressure: An Introduction to the American Political System (Hardcover)

The format of this book is straight forward, and easy to comprehend. Unfortunately, the beginning of many chapters proved to be long and tedious before actually getting into the workings of government. Although the examples were necessary to illustrate daily workings of government, they could have been cut back.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Democracy Under Pressure, September 11, 2003

By 

Joni M. Fortier "Joni4TA" (California, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Democracy Under Pressure (Complete Version) (Hardcover)

was a good book, a very interesting college course. This book was easy to read and follow.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Uses a lot of examples, May 24, 2004

By 

N. Neal (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Democracy Under Pressure: 2002 Election Update (with InfoTrac) (Paperback)

I used this text as a course textbook for a college class last semester. One of the good things about this book is that it contains a LOT of examples about every topic concerning government that is discussed in the book. One of the bad things that I've found however, is that these examples make the book very tedious - if you are just trying to get straight information (ie: to learn from), and you want to do it quickly, I would not recommend this book; however, if you are seeking to learn, and you learn best by seeing real-life examples, then this is the book for you, for it has plenty of those! Personally, I found it a little too much, but I realize that this is just my opinion, so I don't knock the book at all.