Author Description

Product Description AMERICAN GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS TODAY is known nationwide for its balanced, unbiased, and up-to-date coverage of constitutional, governmental, political, social, and economic structures and their processes. AMERICAN GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS TODAY encourages students to experience the excitement that comes with being an engaged and informed citizen and provides them with the tools they need to get involved. In this new edition, the authors offer even more examples of students who have made a difference. This version of the text does not include the policy chapters. About the Author Steffen W. Schmidt is a professor of political science at Iowa State University. He grew up in Colombia, South America, and has studied in Colombia, Switzerland, and France. He has a B.A. from Rollins College and obtained his Ph.D. from Columbia University, New York, in public law and government. Dr. Schmidt has published 14 books and over 130 articles in scholarly journals and is the recipient of numerous prestigious teaching prizes, including the Amoco Award for Lifetime Career Achievement in Teaching and the Teacher of the Year award. He is a pioneer in the use of web-based and real-time video courses and is a member of the American Political Science Association's section on Computers and Multimedia. He is known as "Dr. Politics" for his extensive commentary on U.S. politics in U.S. and international media. He is a weekly blogger for Gannett, and comments on CNN en Espanol and Univision as well as WNYC, New York. Dr. Schmidt is on Facebook (SteffenWSchmidt) and Twitter (DrPolitics). Mack C. Shelley, II is a professor of political science and statistics at Iowa State University. After receiving his bachelor's degree from American University in Washington, DC, he went on to graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where he received a master's degree in economics and a Ph.D. in political science. He a