Primary source materials are a great way for students to experience firsthand a historic event, to more fully understand a pivotal actor or figure, or to explore legislation or a judicial decision. Students leave these readings better prepared to grapple with secondary sources. In fact, they can often support a different interpretation or more critically engage with analysis. This new volume—with 50 documents that include speeches, court cases, letters, diary entries, excerpts from autobiographies, treaties, legislation, regulations and reports, documentary photographs, ad stills, public opinion polls, transcripts, and press releases—is a great starting point for any parties and elections course. Careful editing, pithy headnotes, and discussion questions all enhance this useful reader.
About the author
Randall E. Adkins is associate professor and chair of the graduate program in the Department of Political Science at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He is a former American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow. Adkins′ research has been published in American Politics Quarterly, American Politics Research, the Journal of Political Marketing, Political Research Quarterly, Presidential Studies Quarterly, and Publius: The Journal of Federalism