This popular brief edition text for the one-semester or one-quarter American Government course maintains the framework of Wilson's complete text, emphasizing the historical development of the American political system, who governs, and to what end. Completely up to date, AMERICAN GOVERNMENT, BRIEF, 9e offers new coverage of such key and emerging issues as creationism and the establishment clause, tactics from the 2008 presidential campaign, Congressional ethics, repercussions from the Valerie Plume scandal, national debt, the Social Security debate, military involvement in Iraq, and much more.