All the tools students need to understand American politics—with 9 chapters on Texas government and politics. American Politics Today helps students understand the debates and controversies that they encounter in the news by emphasizing conflict and compromise as natural parts of politics. New book features – organized around student learning outcomes – offer an effective way to engage students in U.S. and Texas politics.

This thoroughly updated edition of Schmidt, Shelley, and Bardes' popular text offers balanced, unbiased, comprehensive, and up-to-date coverage of constitutional, governmental, political, social, and economic structures and processes. The book's overriding theme is the importance of informed active citizenship, and the extensive pedagogy underscores this theme by soliciting critical thinking about political issues and encouraging students to become involved in the political process. With keen awareness of its audience, AMERICAN GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS TODAY incorporates current examples, the Internet, and other media to stimulate learning and excitement about American government. This truly interactive text gives students more than reading material; it gives them tools to become good citizens.

The Fifth Edition of American Politics Today is designed to show students the reality of politics today and how it connects to their own lives. New features--from chapter opening cases that address the kinds of questions students ask, to full-page graphics that illustrate key political processes--show students how politics works and why it matters. All components of the learning package--textbook, InQuizitive adaptive learning tool, and coursepack--are organized around specific chapter learning goals to ensure that students learn the nuts and bolts of American government.

Show students how politics really works through a focus on conflict and compromise.