For undergraduate courses in American Government.

This is the book that gets students to participate. 

Living Democracy gets students to participate in learning, in the classroom, and in change. The book’s young and energetic author team cares deeply about student learning and student engagement.  Lead author Dan Shea founded the Center for Political Participation and his experiences working with students in the classroom and in the center inspired him to team up with co-authors Joanne Connor Green (Texas Christian University) and Christopher E. Smith (Michigan State) to write an American Government text that truly inspires students and helps them experience the impact of government in their daily lives.  Everything about the book–the writing, design, examples, photos, activities, and every page of the text–is designed to get students to participate in their class and in American politics.

In a recent survey of American Government courses, 80% of instructors named  student apathy–about the course material, about politics, about the prospect that government can do anything to enrich their lives–as the number one problem in their course. Written with the belief that introductory courses in American Government are critically important for our students–as well as for the long-term stability of the democratic process–Living Democracy is designed to help students draw connections between topics and to find a role for themselves in politics and government. The text’s innovative approach to American government presents the dynamic nature of our country's democratic process more accurately than any other book currently on the market, while offering all of the material found in a comprehensive, traditionally organized government text within an active framework.