Designed to accompany any American Government text, this engaging reader features a debate-style format that includes two readings--each representing opposing viewpoints--per chapter. The unique format and current content give this book a distinctive advantage over other readers. The Sixth Edition incorporates up-to-date chapter introductions and new debates, for a fresh look at the hot-button issues in modern American government.

When George McGovern lost the 1972 presidential election, Richard Nixon's landslide victory buried more than an insurgent campaign. In resurrecting the largely forgotten story of McGovern's remarkable presidential bid, Bruce Miroff reveals how his crushing defeat produced an identity crisis for liberals torn between their convictions and the political calculations required to win elections-a dilemma for Democrats that has never gone away.Miroff follows the campaign from its surprising rise to its catastrophic fall to remind us how a dark-horse candidate captured the nomination-and then disastrously chose a running mate with a hidden past. Drawing on interviews with dozens of participants—including McGovern himself—who share a wealth of anecdotes and insights, Miroff traces the insurgency to the political struggles of the sixties, explores McGovern's ideology, and assesses the Republican attack politics that linked McGovern to "acid, amnesty, and abortion." Miroff shows how the transformative election of 1972 signaled a major shift in the Democratic base—from urban blue-collar New Dealers to suburban, issue-oriented activists (feminists and gay rights advocates among them)—as the party shed its Cold War past and embraced an antiwar orientation. He also illuminates how the McGovern campaign mastered the new game of presidential primaries and explores the formative experiences of a generation of talented young political actors, including campaign manager Gary Hart, political newcomer Bill Clinton, and future party strategists Bob Shrum and John Podesta. In excavating the 1972 landslide, he follows the subsequent careers of the young McGovernites and describes the loss's effects on later Democratic presidential campaigns.By tracing the transformation of American liberalism and sixties idealism from their political crash in 1972 to the muddled centrism of the twenty-first century, The Liberals' Moment shows what the McGovern insurgency has to teach us today—and identifies what Democrats must do in order to reassume the mantle of progressive change.

Product Description: The Democratic Debate examines the struggle between the elite and popular models of democracy which, the authors argue, have alternated as the dominant vision in America since its founding. The text uses the standard of popular democracy to examine the United States from anti-federalism to contemporary social movements...read more

The Democratic Debate examines the struggle between the elite and popular models of democracy which, the authors argue, have alternated as the dominant vision in America since its founding. The text uses the standard of popular democracy to examine the United States from anti-federalism to contemporary social movements, and includes new material on the 2000 elections, the early months of George W. Bush's presidency, recent protests against the World Trade Organization, September 11, and more.New Ideas boxes give examples of innovative solutions to current problems and issues in government.Making a Difference chapter boxes focus on people, famous and otherwise, whose actions demonstrate how individuals can make a difference in democracy.A Closer Look features examine contemporary issues, such as mobilizing the Latino vote, from the perspective of both democratic models examined in the text.

Product Description: "In an era when American leadership seems sunk in petty power struggles and shallow media spectacles, some of our icons have much to teach us about the forms of leadership that can still speak to the democratic possibilities of the American people," writes Bruce Miroff...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)