Guided by the belief that students must first understand how American government developed to fully understand the issues facing the United States in the 21st century, O'Connor/Sabato Essentials of American Government offers the strongest coverage of history and current events of any brief college textbook devoted to the fundamentals of American politics. This 14-chapter best-selling book provides the historical context students need to understand American government and the most crucial and controversial issues affecting the nation, but in an abbreviated format.