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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Imperfect, but still the best US Government Text,
By Scott (California) - See all my reviews
This review is from: American Government: Continuity and Change, 2004 Edition with LP.com 2.0, Seventh Edition (Paperback)
I have taught AP US Government and Politics for 5 years, and in the course of reviewing most every textbook on the market this one is probably the best overall.
The previous reviewer that complains about conservative bias does not know what he or she is talking about. If anything, the 2002 edition tilts left overall, for example, to demonstrate federalism they reprinted a map produced by NARAL that grades states by the liberalism of their abortion laws. Over the course of the school year invariably my decidedly liberal northern Califonia students point out other examples of liberal bias. Some of the poorly written sections are naked attempts to address what the authors assume is a cynical audience, but that isn't a problem throughout -- it is highly concentrated in chapter 1. The overall attitude encourages students to question the system without being unremittingly negative. The historical review that begins most chapters is sound. Many textbooks assume too much about student's prior knowledge. The best part of the book are the data presentations. The map drawn in proportion to each state's weight in the electoral college is one example. Before I switched schools and over to this textbook, I had a bevy of handouts that took bits and pieces from other textbooks and I found that most of that "best of" set had been woven into the O'Connor text already. It isn't a perfect textbook, naturally, but a good course in Government will have supplemental readings from a variety of perspectives to challenge and complement the main text. I found a few mistakes in the 2002 edition (merging Wesberry v. Sanders into Baker v. Carr for example) but overall it was reliable and far less slanted than John Q. Wilson, whose writing is more college level and intellectual but rather apologetic for elitism throughout. I've been to conferences with dozens of experienced HS teachers and this text is well respected by people who have read it cover to cover and by those who have had the opportunity to compare it to other general textbooks. If what you want from a government class is to have your preconceptions reaffirmed, you can find a far more biased set of sources and enjoy them as you like. If you want a reasonably balanced and comprehensive introduction to US Govt., this is a good resource.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
textbook!?,
By A Customer
This review is from: American Government: Continuity and Change, 2004 Edition with LP.com 2.0, Seventh Edition (Paperback)
My instructor required this book for a college political science class. After having read and studied it from beginning to end, there were a couple of aspects that bothered me. There is a lot of repetition, over facts, issues and definitions. Sometimes I would read the same passage 2 or 3 times, and there were times when the exactly same passage was repeated, as in "copy and paste". Some paraphrasing would have been nice. It would have been appreciated if the summary would have been more representative; 4 lines occupying just half of the page (equivalent to maybe 2 standard lines) summarizing 6 pages is too short to my taste considering the amount of essential facts and concepts students have to remember. Back then I wished there would have been a glossary of the organizational or the authors' own abbreviations. I just couldn't keep track of them and eventually got lost and frustrated, especially in the last chapters. It think it is weird when the graphs take sometimes half or more of the page when they could have been done on a smaller scale saving a lot of paper (and a lot of trees) and I also wondered why were there more pictures of GW Bush in comparison to the other presidents, candidates and officeholders combined. The writing style, in my opinion, could have been more concise and precise. I was very disappointed for having spent more than $100 on a soft cover book that seems just fairly put together.
2.0 out of 5 stars
Description given not accurate,
By student "scag" (Wisconsin) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: American Government: Continuity and Change (Portable Version) (9th Edition) (Paperback)
I purchased this book under the assumption it was in great shape and no markings or highlighting throughout. In fact, the book had numerous highlights and pen markings throughout. This book could not have been sold anywhere but over the internet because of the condition it was in. If I did not need it when I recieved it, I would have returned it and bought elsewhere!
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