This brief, straight-forward introduction to American government has been a long-time student favorite because of its lively and -nsense approach to the basics and its continued inexpensive price. Using a dynamic game metaphor, the text covers four governmental and four ngovernmental players, as well as the constitutional and civil liberties rules of the game. It begins by defining politics and finding it in an unusual place--the classroom. It ends by examining rival theories of who wins and who loses in American politics. Written to engage students and lay a flexible foundation for instructors, The Basics of American Politics covers all the needed terms and topics behind the current news.