US Government Textbook Review

Abstract

Choosing an American government textbook is a daunting task. A quick search of leading textbook publishers reveals over 40 diff erent texts, each with multiple versions (brief, essential, loose leaf, ebook, and more.) and online "learning experiences." Texts vary widely in approach, tone, supplemental resources, and price. Instructors of introductory American government courses approach the subject from different perspectives; our subfields and methodological approaches vary and the things we value in a text diff er widely. This review does not satisfy the need for a comprehensive comparison of all the texts on the market, but examines fi ve leading texts (see table 1 ), comparing their guiding perspectives, structure, in-text and electronic features for students and faculty, and notable strengths and weaknesses with the goal of identifying appealing texts for instructors who value diff erent approaches.We The People , 10th Edition.

It’s (Not) in The Reading: American Government Textbooks’ Limited Representation of Historically Marginalized Groups

“…Looking at 10 general introduction to political science textbooks, Atchison (2017) found a similar lack of coverage of women, indicating a systematic problem across the discipline, not only in American government textbooks. A comprehensive review (Knutson 2017, 536) of five American government textbooks, aimed at assisting instructors "who value different approaches" to select texts for course adoption, did not include coverage of historically marginalized groups as reviewing criteria, implying that it is not something Knutson (2017) believes instructors would be interested in when deciding on a textbook. In this, Knutson was following the general approach of the discipline of political science, as highlighted by Strach (2019, 12), who summarized how these issues are marginalized: "Political scientists consider such work to be about race and politics, or sexuality and politics, or gender and politics, not politics.…”