To understand contemporary American politics and government students need to see how political ideas, institutions and forces have developed over time. The fourth edition of American Government dwells on the seminal role played by political memory and path dependency in shaping contemporary institutions, political forces and public opinion, as well as the critical choices that have caused them to shift course. It provides a comprehensive depiction of current demographic, political, attitudinal and governmental facts, trends and conditions. Each chapter begins with a detailed contemporary portrait of its subject.

To understand contemporary American politics and government students need to see how political ideas, institutions and forces have developed over time. The fourth edition of American Government dwells on the seminal role played by political memory and path dependency in shaping contemporary institutions, political forces and public opinion, as well as the critical choices that have caused them to shift course. It provides a comprehensive depiction of current demographic, political, attitudinal and governmental facts, trends and conditions. Each chapter begins with a detailed contemporary portrait of its subject.

This book sets out to provide a useful directory to writers, reviewers, and citizens interested in the environmental impact statement (EIS) process in the United States. Although several "environmental" directories address a narrow portion of EIS subject matter, there is no single directory that covers the wide range of agencies and organizations involved in the EIS process. Therefore, the purpose of this directory is to bring EIS-related agencies and organizations into one comprehensive reference book. EIS writing and reviewing can be improved by providing practioners with a directory that puts them quickly in touch with the national EIS net work. At the present time, practioners must rely on their personal, and sometimes, limited network of agencies and organizations for the exchange of information. The EIS Directory quickly connects EIS-related agencies and organizations throughout the United States at the national, regional, state, and local levels. The EIS Directory is a compilation of directories provided by members of the EIS community. A written survey of over five hundred agencies and or ganizations was made in 1980. The response to the survey provided a wide range of in-house directories. This book contains approximately 4,000 entries developed from over 300 documents. This book was written in the hope that it will help people communicate more easi1y--u1timately improving the quality of EIS decision making. I re alize the limitations of this initial edition and accept the challenge of providing a more effective reference tool in future editions.

This reference book sets out to provide a useful glossary to writers, reviewers and citizens interested in the EIS process. Over the last decade, environmental impact statements have devel oped a rich, but sometimes confusing vocabulary. The purpose of this book is to help people understand and communicate more effec tively by presenting, analyzing and comparing terminology used by various EIS organizations. This book is not a technical glossary or the standard glossary, but rather the first complete effort to assemble and examine the translation of complex technical EIS lan guage into a vocabulary aimed directly at the lay reader. Two major factors are responsible for the confusion over EIS terminology: the diversity of professional vocabularies and multiple interpretations of federal regulations. Due to the di versity and breadth of professional jargons needed to describe the wide range of EIS subject matter, both quantitatively and qualita tively, EIS terminology has become a complex amalgam of profession al languages. The second factor of multiple interpretations of federal regulations contributes to the confusion over EIS procedur al terminology--providing a disjointed vocabulary charged with in dividual interpretation. As a esult of this complexity and con fusion, the need for a uniform or standard terminology has been advocated by many organizations, ranging from the Council on En vironmental Quality on the federal level, down to city planning departments on the local level."

In 2010, the governor of Arizona signed a controversial immigration bill (SB 1070) that inspired copycat bills in twenty-two states, a legal battle that is going to the Supreme Court, and a media frenzy that brought Arizona to the center of the immigration debate. Arizona Firestorm brings together a variety of well respected experts to examine and contextualize the political, economic, historical, and legal issues prompted by this and other anti-Latino and anti-immigrant legislation and state actions. It also addresses the media s role in shaping immigration discourse in Arizona and elsewhere. What is happening in Arizona has become a case study for what is happening with respect to immigration issues in the United States and around the globe. Arizona Firestorm will be of interest to scholars and students in communication, public policy, state politics, federalism, and anyone interested in immigration or Latino politics.

When a new president is elected in November, someone will be called to greatness. But it remains to be seen whether that call will be answered.

In the wake of the Clinton scandal, the upcoming election presents an opportunity for candidates and citizens alike to reaffirm their belief that the office of the president demands greatness. But Marc Landy and Sidney Milkis suspect that the public will be disappointed once again, because the demand for greatness far exceeds the supply. In fact, they claim that we have had no great presidents in the last half of this century. In this provocative new book, they explain why.

Landy and Milkis look to the past to show how five presidents-Washington, Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln, and Franklin Roosevelt-set the standards for presidential leadership and achievement. These were men who left genuine legacies, whose vision expanded the office of the presidency as they inaugurated momentous and far-reaching change. They were leaders who knew how to reconcile innovation with constitutional tradition and were able to both educate the people about their agendas and win their allegiance. They were also great builders and leaders of their parties amid times of political realignment.

Searching for common threads in these five presidencies, Landy and Milkis enable us to better understand both the possibilities and the limitations of the office. They show how presidents after FDR have never risen to true greatness-not even Lyndon Johnson, an "overreacher" whose Great Society was a failed revolution, or Ronald Reagan, an underachiever whose conservative revolution never fully got under way. Our greatest presidents, they argue, sought to profoundly change the nature of the regimes they inherited and had the luck to assume office under conditions that allowed such renovation; today's leaders have lacked either the ambition, the opportunity, or both.

Perhaps, the authors observe, the older our country gets the harder greatness is to come by. Our next great president might be sworn in next year, but he or she will face a daunting task in matching the stature of past leaders. Landy and Milkis's book is an evenhanded assessment of our national icons that reestablishes our understanding of presidential greatness and demonstrates the importance--and reality--of inspired democratic leadership.

The Obama administration is shaping up to be one of the most consequential in recent American history. In the revised edition of this book, now including new two chapters assessing the Obama administration and federalism and Obama as commander-in-chief, a diverse group of presidential scholars steps back from the partisan debate to consider the Obama presidency through the lens of the U.S. Constitution's theory, structure, and powers. This timely look at the Obama presidency establishes a constitutional yardstick of interest to scholars of the presidency, constitutional thought, and American political thought.