A Novel Approach to Politics: Introducing Political Science through Books, Movies, and Popular Culture

Students often complain that textbooks are boring, especially the door-stoppers in use for most survey courses. But they’ve never had a textbook like this. Just ask adopters of the first edition who are thanking Novel Approach for some of their best student evaluations to date.

Van Belle and Mash deliver the core concepts and real-world political examples you expect from an introductory book, just in a way that your students will actually have fun reading and will retain after the exam. With enlightening, yet entertaining, references ranging from 1984 to The Dark Knight, students take away more from discussions of institutions, ideology, and economics because concepts are introduced using popular culture. Revisions to the second edition, in addition to a wealth of new and recent movies and books, include new features on major political theorists and expanded stand-alone institutional chapters on the legislature and the executive.

Never fear―the textbook stuff is here too―chapter summaries, bolded key terms, and discussion questions.