The American Congress (The American Congress 6ed and The American Congress Reader Pack Two Volume Paperback Set) - Softcover

From the Fifth Edition: “The American Congress by Smith, Roberts, and Vander Wielen is a superb textbook. I routinely assign it in my undergraduate courses on the U.S. Congress. The Smith textbook is concise, extremely well conceptualized, argued, and written, and perfectly pitched for undergraduates.”
– Sarah Binder, George Washington University

“Smith, Roberts, and Vander Wielen present ideas, not just anecdotes, stories, or mind-numbing facts. They present the debates, in the literature and within our society, about how we should think about Congress and its activities. The outcome of these debates, the ideas that win, shape everything from voting to lawmaking to judicial interpretation of statutes. Nowhere are these ideas so comprehensively laid out as in this textbook. This is why I use it, and it is the principal advantage that this text has over the competition.”
– Mathew D. McCubbins, University of California at San Diego

The American Congress provides the most insightful, up-to-date treatment of congressional politics available in an undergraduate text. Informed by the authors' Capitol Hill experience and nationally recognized scholarship, this book presents a crisp introduction to all major features of Congress: its party and committee systems, leadership, and voting and floor activity. The American Congress has the most in-depth discussion of the place of the president, the courts, and interest groups in congressional policy making available in a text. The authors blend an emphasis on recent developments in congressional politics with a clear discussion of the rules of the game, the history of key features of Congress, and stories from recent Congresses that bring politics to life. No other text weaves into the discussion the important ideas of recent political science research. The book includes the most comprehensive list of suggested readings and Internet resources on Congress to date.