This book was designed to provide readers with the tools to be intelligent evaluators of American political dialogue. This collection of classic and contemporary readings exposes students/readers to the great arguments of American politics and helps them 1) learn how to arrange -- and rearrange -- facts, 2) identify the core arguments of public affairs, 3) evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of various theories of American politics, and 4) apply those theories to current problems. Combining both core readings in political science and recent arguments on current controversies in each chapter, it shows the continuity of political debates over decades and centuries and requires students/readers to come to their own conclusions while evaluating evidence and arguing over theory.