This comprehensive reader offers a broad selection of classic and current documents, as well as analytical essays on current political issues. Topics include the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the war in Iraq, affirmative action, the Supreme Court's 2003 ruling on sodomy, the 2004 presidential race, and the Columbia shuttle disaster. In addition, policy-oriented readings appear throughout the text.
Introductions to the selections help make even the most difficult topics, such as court cases, more accessible to students. Accompanying discussion questions follow a conceptual format, allowing students to focus on main themes and annotations explain unfamiliar terms.Each chapter opens with an essay that provides a brief preface to topics and advises students on critical-reading and -thinking skills.A topic correlation chart offers a convenient way to locate relevant readings for all subjects covered in the text.