A Novel Approach to Politics: Introducing Political Science through Books, Movies, and Popular Culture (Paperback)

by Douglas A. Van Belle and Kenneth M. Mash (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
What if we told you that a textbook could be funny and irreverent utilizing popular books, movies, music, and television shows to introduce political science concepts? This novel approach to explaining our need for government and the intrigue of politics is a reality. Van Belle and Mash do not compromise on the Political Science content, nor do they stint on real-world political examples throughout the book. The basics and the depth are all here. The added innovation? to give you context through the popular culture you re already plugged into. Simply put, this is not a typical or boring textbook. From references to 1984 and Lord of the Flies to mentions of The Matrix and A Clockwork Orange you ll be surprised by how the core concepts of political science institutions, ideology, economics, elections, culture, national politics, and international relations are interwoven with a highly entertaining discussion of popular culture.

About the Author
Sent to Earth shortly before Krypton exploded, Doug VanBelle was raised by gorillas in Africa and then bitten by a radioactive spider while on a high school field trip. None of that helped much at all. He misspent his youth-and a bit more-trying to find a violent competitive sport that did not cause him serious harm, but the four times he broke his nose suggest that he is slow to learn. Somewhere in there, there was a bunch of degrees and some other learnin' stuff. He was awarded a full scholarship in Chemical Engineering, dropped out after the first year, went through seven other majors, failed a creative writing elective, took a semester off to work in the Alaskan commercial fishing industry and somehow still managed to graduate on time. He is now a political science professor who writes science fiction and teaches in the media studies programme at Victoria University of Wellington. He is the former president of both the Foreign Policy Analysis and International Communication research sections of the International Studies Association, the Editor in Chief of Foreign Policy Analysis, and he has written extensively on theories of political decision making and the role of news media in international relations. Spurred on by the blatant discrimination inherent in the statement "Trix are for Kids," at age 4 Ken Mash attempted to file a class-action lawsuit on behalf of the rabbit and other animals similarly situated. After three errors in one inning squashed his dreams of playing for the Mets, his overactive justice complex led him to pursue a career as a lawyer and politician. While earning his B.A. in political science he discovered what those jobs were really like. Thus, Ken's next degree was in mixology. Eighteen months later, his fiancée informed him that she was leaving town to do graduate work and that she would go either with him or without him. A couple of degrees later, he is currently a political science professor at East Stroudsburg University of Pe

Product Details

• Paperback: 330 pages
• Publisher: CQ Press; 1st edition (November 8, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568028296
• ISBN-13: 978-1568028293
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #85,066 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A review by a professor, July 19, 2007

By	gg (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews

I adopted this book for my intro to political science course after several trials of other introductory texts. The problem with "textbooks" in general is they tend to be rather dry, hard to follow and fail to capture the spirit of the material (a.k.a. boring). Introductory texts are even more of a challenge as they lump a large body of knowledge into a condensed version. Ultimately, as a professor, even I have a hard time digesting the material in most textbooks. The Van Belle and Mash text is the exception to the rule. The book is entertaining and easy to read. While the authors do stretch at times to make a joke (sometimes at the cost of actually learning something), they provide a refreshing and very accessible look at political science. It is a text students will actually read (one can hope) and enjoy.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Part homage, part wannabe "America (the Book)", April 22, 2007

By	J. L. Gray "Scribe" (WA, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Review from a student's perspective:
This book was used as our course textbook for my political science 101 class. It has some ridiculous entertainment value at first that makes it more accessible versus your "just the facts" textbook, and is very up to date in terms of current world events. When it comes down to wanting to study for a test, though, there's some passages that are overextended or just plain unrelated. This isn't to say learning does not occur--at the heart it's your average textbook. However, in an attempt to keep the zany humor going, some inaccuracies occur, much to the displeasure of my professor (he's decided not to use the text again).

Review from an average reader's perspective:
This book is, as earlier stated, ridiculously funny. You can read, be entertained, and actually learn a thing or two about politics and the functions of government. So what if much of it seems like a rehash of your high school American government class; admit it, you don't remember half of it, anyway. The footnotes in this book are hilarious--they are more like comedic asides than footnotes.

However, I am very much concerned by the typos in the tables used in this book. In the first chapter, the name "Darth Vader" is correctly spelled, while in two tables in Chapter Ten it's misprinted as "Darth Vadar." Also, the state of Washington seems to have conquered Utah in a map of the US in another chapter, with "WA" appearing on both. (It's mostly the misspelling of Darth Vader that has me worried--for a book that prides itself on pop culture references, what else could the authors be getting wrong--though this is probably a problem at the copy-editing level.)

To sum up: the "novelty" began to wear off the further I got in to the book--especially when the authors gave their shameless plug for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents America (The Book) Teacher's Edition: A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction in Chapter 8. An average person could find this enjoyable, but I'm not sure why the average person might buy it, as it is a college textbook.

One last warning: printed in a non-serif font (similar to Arial). Eyestrain and/or drowsiness can occur more quickly this way. Serif fonts (like Times New Roman) are easier to read in printed form--hence why most books you pick up are in serif fonts. (This truly is a reason why I'm disappointed with this book--it might not matter to you, but it matters to me, as a book must be readable.)

0 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Seems Interesting, September 5, 2007

By	R. Lowry - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Although I have only had this book for about two weeks, it seems interesting. I'll be curious to see how it integrates popular culture with politics.