American Government: Roots and Reform, 2020 Presidential Election Edition + California Government and Politics Today, 15th edition

Updated content provides insight into how the present is shaped by the past

• NEW - American Government: Roots and Reform has been revised to include new and updated material on important recent developments including the following:
  • The 2020 national elections, including how the Democratic and Republican parties mobilized to get out the vote, the impact of early and mail-in voting, and the new demographics of the 117th Congress
  • The political realities of COVID-19 and racial unrest, especially the implications for free exercise of religion, freedom of expression, and freedom of assembly and association
  • Important rulings by the Supreme Court, including the ruling in favor of President Trump's ban on immigrants from predominantly Muslim majority countries and the potential ramifications of the upcoming case, Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard University
  • Deeper assessment of the stability of democratic self-governance in the context of the Trump presidency and administration
• UPDATED - The authors have updated the figures, tables and maps, as well as incorporated new photos, throughout the text.
• UPDATED - Current Events Bulletins bring currency into your classroom with author-written articles that connect key concepts with real-life current events. Our authors regularly add new or revised articles to ensure that your students have relevant examples to help them engage with the course.

Engaging features help students better understand American government

• American Politics in Comparative Perspective features yield insights into other systems of government around the world. Each includes a photo essay, table, figure, or map that compares some aspect of U.S. government to two or more countries. Accompanying critical thinking questions challenge readers to consider similarities and differences between America's system and those in the rest of the world.
• Chapter-opening vignettes reinforce the text's historical approach, helping students to achieve a better understanding of how American government has developed over time.
• Contemporary photos depict major events from the last few years and illustrate politics' relevancy. They show political actors and processes as well as people affected by politics, creating a visual narrative that enhances rather than repeats the text. Historical photos further illustrate how the past informs the present.
• Roots of and Toward Reform features highlight the importance of the history of American government as well as the dynamic cycle of reassessment and reform that allows the United States to continue to evolve. Every chapter begins with a "Roots of" section that gives a historical overview of the topic at hand and ends with a "Toward Reform" section devoted to a particularly contentious aspect of the topic discussed.
• A focus on qualitative literacy helps students learn to analyze, interpret, synthesize, and apply information from tables, charts, graphs, and other visual sources. By highlighting the images and informational graphics students encounter throughout the text,  as well as those they see every day online, on television, and in books, the authors challenge students to think critically about how information is presented.

Dynamic content brings concepts to life

• Videos embedded within the narrative help students develop their understanding of key topics.
  • Pearson Originals for Political Science videos illustrate complex political concepts in a simplified and entertaining way.
  • Politics in Plain Sight videos show students how politics influences their daily activity and help them see that politics is everywhere.
  • So What? videos help students understand how key documents and institutions affect their own lives.
  • Current Events videos explore recent occurrences that have impacted American politics.
  • The Big Picture videos offer broad looks at key topics such as Federalism and Congress.
  • Current news footage and short documentary videos cover both recent and historical events.
• Interactives integrated directly into the narrative get students learning actively, making it more likely that they'll understand what they've read.
  • Data-rich interactive maps, figures, and tables with Social Explorer technology let students interact with real data to explore the concepts they've just read about.
  • Enhanced historical images and political cartoons contain contextual "hotspots" highlighting details that students might otherwise miss.
  • Interactive key term flashcards at the end of each chapter enable students to review important concepts, names to know, events, and court cases.
  • Adaptive scenarios or simulations allow students to explore critical issues and challenges that the country's Founders faced, and that elected officials, bureaucrats, and political activists still face today. This content provides students with opportunities to apply key concepts to realistic situations.
• NEW - Podcasts offer audio explorations of contemporary topics of interest such as "Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court" and "Should 16 Year Olds Be Able to Vote?"
• Embedded assessments afford students regular opportunities to check their understanding. The results enable instructors to gauge student comprehension and provide timely feedback to address learning gaps along the way.
• Writing assignments,  such as journaling prompts, shared writing activities, and essays,  enable educators to foster and assess critical thinking without significantly impacting their grading burden. 
• Video quizzes offer students opportunities to further their knowledge by applying concepts and testing their understanding. Instructors can share videos accompanied by time-stamped multiple-choice questions.
• Shared multimedia assignments make it easy for instructors and students to post and respond to videos and other media. Students can also record and upload their own presentations for grading, comments, or peer review.
• The Revel^® mobile app lets students read and practice anywhere, anytime, on any device, online and off. It syncs work across all registered devices automatically, allowing learners to toggle between phone, tablet, and laptop as they move through their day.
• The audio playlist lets students listen and learn as they go.

Actionable insights help improve results

• The educator dashboard offers an at-a-glance look at overall class performance. It helps instructors identify and contact struggling and low-activity students, ensuring that the class stays on pace.
• The enhanced grades view provides detailed insights on student performance, from specific assignments to individual student scores.
• LMS integration provides institutions, instructors, and students easy access to their Revel courses via Blackboard Learn^™, Canvas^™, Brightspace by D2L^™, and Moodle^™. Single sign-on lets students access Revel on their first day.

Updated content provides insight into how the present is shaped by the past

• American Government: Roots and Reform has been revised to include new and updated material on important recent developments including the following:
  • The 2020 national elections, including how the Democratic and Republican parties mobilized to get out the vote, the impact of early and mail-in voting, and the new demographics of the 117th Congress
  • The political realities of COVID-19 and racial unrest, especially the implications for free exercise of religion, freedom of expression, and freedom of assembly and association
  • Important rulings by the Supreme Court, including the ruling in favor of President Trump's ban on immigrants from predominantly Muslim majority countries and the potential ramifications of the upcoming case, Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard University
  • Deeper assessment of the stability of democratic self-governance in the context of the Trump presidency and administration
• UPDATED - The authors have updated the figures, tables and maps, as well as incorporated new photos, throughout the text.
• UPDATED - Current Events Bulletins bring currency into your classroom with author-written articles that connect key concepts with real-life current events. Our authors regularly add new or revised articles to ensure that your students have relevant examples to help them engage with the course.
• Podcasts offer audio explorations of contemporary topics of interest such as "Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court" and "Should 16 Year Olds Be Able to Vote?"