Introducing American Politics

Despite "the consent of the governed", the Democratic and Republican parties have been in stalemate for the last thirty years. The leadership of the United States has swung like a pendulum, and apart from the Reagan presidency of 1981-89 neither party has been dominant for long, or has managed to impose its vision of government on the country.

Introducing American Politics offers a clear and concise picture of how we got to this point, and anticipates the way forward. It includes a chronology of dates in American History important to an understanding of American Politics and full coverage of key issues such as: slavery and its legacy, isolationism, prohibition, McCarthy, civil rights, the rise and fall of Nixon, the Reagan revolution and the Clinton / Whitewater / Starr affair.