The Real World of American Politics

by Professor Chris Koski and

In the standard areas of American political practice, working documents provide serious insight into the stakes, values, and processes that drive and inform the political system. By putting students in touch with the inner workings of this system, The Real World of American Politics, by Chris Koski, Daniel B. Greenberg Professor of Political Science and Environmental Studies, and Peter Steinberger , Robert H. and Blanche Day Ellis Professor of Political Science and Humanities, provides them with direct, concrete access to the nuts and bolts— the real world—of government.

As Prof. Koski observes, “The power of governments often lies in the routine processes that fail to grab the headlines that loud members of Congress might. Our book,The Real World of American Government: A Documentary Introduction, explicates the political and policymaking processes of governments through a curated selection of documents that might otherwise go unnoticed in a typical American government class.”

Lucy Sexton ’13 was story producer for an HBO original documentary series that provides a detailed look at the history and repercussions of the Iranian hostage crisis in 1979. Also, she hired anthropology major Skyland Rice ’21 to help with research. Through four episodes that include “revelatory new interviews with the American hostages and Iranian hostage-takers alike, the series is a gripping chronicle of one of the most dramatic international deadlocks in American history, a deep dive into the geo-political history that led to the crisis, and an exploration of the political fallout that reverberates today.”

(HBO Max, 2022)

This new tome tells the story of Reed’s legendary calligraphy teachers, Lloyd Reynolds [English and art 1929–69] and Robert Palladino [art 1969–84], whose classes from the 1950s until 1984 inspired key figures in early digital typography. Between them they taught students Steve Jobs ’76 (Apple), Sumner Stone ’67 (Adobe Industries), and Charles Bigelow ’67 (Rochester Institute of Technology and Stanford University). The book, written by Nancy Stock-Allen, features more than 25 interviews of former students and associates, more than 200 images, and a historical survey of the development of the italic hand. The Book Club of California, publisher, has offered a 10% discount to any Reed student or alum. (Book Club of California, 2022)

This unique volume is no ordinary textbook; it includes a range of governmental actions from state of the state addresses, to the seating charts of state dinners, to the notice and comment period for seat width regulations, to the certification of electors, and more—all of the details involved in dealing with issues such as net neutrality, foreign lobbying, and campaign finance. (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2022)