xxvACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This edition of American Politics Today is again dedicated
to our families. Our wives, Regina and Sarah, have contin-
ued to accommodate our deadlines and schedules and have
again served as our most accurate critics and sources of
insight and inspiration. Our fi ve children, several of whom
are now undergraduates themselves, have again been
forced to contend with politics and textbook writing as a
perennial topic of conversation and have responded with
critiques and insights of their own, which appear through-
out the text.
Our colleagues at Indiana University and the Uni-
versity of Wisconsin (and before that, Duke University
for both of us) provided many opportunities to talk about
American politics and teaching this course.
Bill thanks his colleagues at Indiana University and
elsewhere, including Christine Barbour, John Brehm, Ted
Carmines, Mike Ensley, Russ Hansen, Jeff Hill, Yanna
Krupnikov, Lin Ostrom, Regina Smyth, and Gerry Wright,
for sharp insights and encouragement at crucial moments.
He is also grateful to the legion of teaching assistants who
have helped him organize and teach the intro class at three
universities. Finally, he thanks the students at the Higher
School of Economics in Moscow, Russia, where he taught
the introductory class as a Fulbright Scholar in 2012.
David gives special thanks to Ken Mayer, whose
daily “reality checks” and consistently thoughtful pro-
fessional and personal advice are greatly appreciated.
John Coleman, Barry Burden, Charles Franklin, Ken
Goldstein, Ben Marquez, Don Moynihan, Ryan Owens,
Howard Schweber, Byron Shafer, Dave Weimer, Kathy
Walsh, Susan Yackee, and all the great people at Wiscon-
sin have provided a wonderful community within which
to teach and research American politics. David would
also like to thank the students at the University of Deb-
recen in Hungary, where he taught American politics as
a Fulbright Scholar in 2003–04, and the Eberhard Karls
University of Tübingen, Germany, where he taught as a
Fulbright Scholar in 2011–12. The Hungarian students’
unique perspective on democracy, civil liberties, and the
role of government required David to think about Amer-
ican politics in a different way. The German students’
views on the role of political parties, campaigns, and the
social welfare state also provided a strong contrast to
the views of his American students.
Both of us are grateful to the political science faculty
at Duke University, who, in addition to providing us with
our fi rst academic jobs, worked to construct a hospitable
and invigorating place to research and to teach. In particu-
lar, Rom Coles, Ruth Grant, John Aldrich, Tom Spragens,
Taylor Cole, and David Barber were model colleagues and
scholars. We both learned to teach by watching them, and
we are the better teachers and scholars for it.
The outstanding people at W. W. Norton made this a
much bet ter book tha n we could have produced on our ow n.
Steve Dunn was responsible for getting the process started
and providing good commentary and encouragement from
beginning to end. Roby Harrington has been a source
of constant encouragement and feedback. We are also
extraordinarily grateful for Ann Shin’s editorial insights,
vision, and judgment, which are refl ected in improvements
made throughout the text. Once again, Pete Lesser’s clear
vision for the electronic media and for the textbook itself
was a major help, and Lorraine Klimowich ensured order
and accuracy in the support materials. Marian Johnson
and Jack Borrebach were superb project editors, bringing
to the project their talent for clarity of words and visuals.
Sarah Wolf and Kathryn Young made sure everyone had
the right versions of everything. Dena Betz and Michael
Fodera put together an excellent photo program. Bethany
Salminen cleared reprint permissions for the fi gures and
tables. Ben Reynolds handled production with effi ciency
and good humor. Jillian Burr created a beautiful design for
the book interior and cover. The entire crew at Norton has
been incredibly professional and supportive. We feel very
fortunate to work with them.
We are also indebted to the many reviewers who have
commented on the text.