APPROACHING DEMOCRACY, PORTFOLIO EDITION

'Approaching Democracy' addresses the evolving nature of the American experiment in democratic government. It teaches students the theory and the basics of American political science, the political history of this nation, and provides the critical thinking skills needed to analyze these evolving relationships.
The title and theme for this book come from Vaclav Havel’s address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress on February 1, 1990, wherein Havel noted that with the collapse of the Soviet Union, millions of people from Eastern Europe were involved in an historically irreversible process: beginning their quest for freedom and democracy. And while the United Stated of America provided the model for these newly freed peoples, it was, in Havel’s mind, evolving towards democracy, not a fully established democracy.
Larry Berman and Bruce Allen Murphy, long-time teachers of the introductory American Political science course in both large and small public and private universities, set out to write a book that offers a clear theme - a theme that is just as relevant, if not more so today than when it was first presented - in a highly readable, easy-to-understand format.