Pennsylvania Government and Politics

Pennsylvania Government and Politics

Author: John J Kennedy

Publisher:

Published: 2017-08-10

Total Pages: 184

ISBN-13: 9781516555963

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Pennsylvania Government and Politics gives readers an overview of the government institutions and the politics of the keystone state. It explains how Pennsylvania compares to other states on a wide variety of demographic and economic areas, and examines detailed statistics relating to election results and political trends, with an emphasis on the current party realignment. This comprehensive coverage takes over where historical examinations end by providing specific contemporary data and detailed discussion of the state's political system. The book opens with a profile of Pennsylvania and its rich historical and political heritage. Subsequent chapters are devoted to the history of political parties and elections in the state, the Pennsylvania State Constitution, as well as the three institutions of government: the General Assembly, the executive branch, and the judiciary. The book closes with a chapter on local governments in Pennsylvania. Designed to blend engaging exposition with statistical information that enhances the readers' insights into both institutions and events, Pennsylvania Government and Politics is an ideal text for courses relating to Pennsylvania government and history within the state. It can also be used as a supplemental text for introductory courses in American national government and state and local government. Its tone and style make the book appealing to any lay reader with an interest in the topic.


On the Front Lines of Pennsylvania Politics

On the Front Lines of Pennsylvania Politics

Author: John M. Baer

Publisher: Arcadia Publishing

Published: 2012-09-25

Total Pages: 177

ISBN-13: 1614237034

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Enjoy a fun look at behind-the-scenes politics and personalities in the history of Harrisburg and the Keystone State. Pennsylvania, first home of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, has a tradition of political progress. However, along with the good, the political playground of Pennsylvania has also seen the brazenly bad behavior of its political leaders. For over twenty-five years, political columnist John Baer has had a front-row seat to the foibles and follies of the Keystone State's political system. Baer takes readers through his memories of covering state politics for the last quarter century, from Democratic governor Milton Shapp's short-lived run for president--in which he finished behind "no preference" in the Florida primary--to highlights of some of the game-changing campaign missteps and maneuvers that moved administrations in and out of the capital. With a delightfully gruff wit, Baer gives readers a behind-the-scenes view of the politics and personalities that have passed through Harrisburg.


Frontier Country

Frontier Country

Author: Patrick Spero

Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press

Published: 2016-09-26

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 0812293347

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In Frontier Country, Patrick Spero addresses one of the most important and controversial subjects in American history: the frontier. Countering the modern conception of the American frontier as an area of expansion, Spero employs the eighteenth-century meaning of the term to show how colonists understood it as a vulnerable, militarized boundary. The Pennsylvania frontier, Spero argues, was constituted through conflicts not only between colonists and Native Americans but also among neighboring British colonies. These violent encounters created what Spero describes as a distinctive "frontier society" on the eve of the American Revolution that transformed the once-peaceful colony of Pennsylvania into a "frontier country." Spero narrates Pennsylvania's story through a sequence of formative but until now largely overlooked confrontations: an eight-year-long border war between Maryland and Pennsylvania in the 1730s; the Seven Years' War and conflicts with Native Americans in the 1750s; a series of frontier rebellions in the 1760s that rocked the colony and its governing elite; and wars Pennsylvania fought with Virginia and Connecticut in the 1770s over its western and northern borders. Deploying innovative data-mining and GIS-mapping techniques to produce a series of customized maps, he illustrates the growth and shifting locations of frontiers over time. Synthesizing the tensions between high and low politics and between eastern and western regions in Pennsylvania before the Revolution, Spero recasts the importance of frontiers to the development of colonial America and the origins of American Independence.


Pennsylvania's Revolution

Pennsylvania's Revolution

Author: William Pencak

Publisher: Penn State Press

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 406

ISBN-13: 027103579X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

"A collection of essays on the American Revolution in Pennsylvania. Topics include the politicization of the English- and German-language press and the population they served; the Revolution in remote areas of the state; and new historical perspectives on the American and British armies during the Valley Forge winter"--Provided by publisher.


Crucible of American Democracy

Crucible of American Democracy

Author: Andrew Shankman

Publisher:

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Arguments over what democracy actually meant in practice and how it should be implemented raged throughout the early American republic. This exploration of the Pennsylvania experience reveals how democracy arose in America and how it came to accommodate capitalism.


Keystone Corruption

Keystone Corruption

Author: Brad Bumsted

Publisher: Camino Books

Published: 2013-09-09

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781933822808

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

"'Keystone Corruption: A Pennsylvania Insider's View of a State Gone Wrong' traces the cyclical nature of misconduct in Pennsylvania government over the course of the last hundred years. Most of the book focuses on corruption since the 1970s, when the author had a front-row seat during the unprecedented scandals of 2007 through 2012. . . The book is not intended as a complete history. It includes the author's impressions of powerful legislative leaders and top aides who abused the taxpayers in ways that did not, like many of the allegations against them, land in criminal court. When it came to crimes, from Bonusgate to Computergate and the "BIG" caper-Bumsted tracked the cases at every turn." -- Cover page 4.


Collective Dreams

Collective Dreams

Author: Keally D. McBride

Publisher: Penn State Press

Published: 2007-08-09

Total Pages: 164

ISBN-13: 0271046120

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

How do we go about imagining different and better worlds for ourselves? Collective Dreams looks at ideals of community, frequently embraced as the basis for reform across the political spectrum, as the predominant form of political imagination in America today. Examining how these ideals circulate without having much real impact on social change provides an opportunity to explore the difficulties of practicing critical theory in a capitalist society. Different chapters investigate how ideals of community intersect with conceptions of self and identity, family, the public sphere and civil society, and the state, situating community at the core of the most contested political and social arenas of our time. Ideals of community also influence how we evaluate, choose, and build the spaces in which we live, as the author’s investigations of Celebration, Florida, and of West Philadelphia show.Following in the tradition of Walter Benjamin, Keally McBride reveals how consumer culture affects our collective experience of community as well as our ability to imagine alternative political and social orders. Taking ideals of community as a case study, Collective Dreams also explores the structure and function of political imagination to answer the following questions: What do these oppositional ideals reveal about our current political and social experiences? How is the way we imagine alternative communities nonetheless influenced by capitalism, liberalism, and individualism? How can these ideals of community be used more effectively to create social change?