American Government - Student Textbook (old)

In 2012, BJU released a "copyright update" of this book, changing the book numberand ISBN—and that's about it. You can get a much cheaper (but essentially identical) copy of this by clicking here.

Any American government course from a Christian perspective worth its salt begins with a biblical defense and explanation of the necessity and nature of human government. American Government from Bob Jones Press is no different, but it is refreshing to reada text from such an obviously politcally conservative source that doesn't resort to propaganda or "christianization" of people or events to make its case.

That said, American Government is far from perfect. Christian influences on the Revolution and Constitution are thoroughly explored (accurately, for the most part), while Enlightenment humanist philosophy goes unaddressed (arguably a greater influence over the actions and ideas of the Founders than Christianity or Church doctrine).

Yet the emphasis is on information, and high school students will get a thorough overview of the structure of American government at the federal, state and local level, important political issues past and current, and all the weird things that consistently confuse citizens and reporters, like what exactly the electoral college does, and why politicians always sport such bad hairdos. (Okay, maybe not the last one.)

This fits into a course that can take 1/2-1 year to complete. There are review questions at the end of each chapter (answers can be found in the teacher's edition). The text is readable and there are plenty of full-color illustrations (photographs, charts, etc.), and students could get by simply reading the text and completing the in-text exercises. Even if you have them complete the activities and tests this can easily be a student-directed program.

American Government serves as an excellent lead-in to Bob Jones Press' Economics, 2nd ed., which is one of the best economics curriculum texts we've seen. Students will learn how campaigns are conducted (and who funds them), the history of American governmental institutions, and even facts about the First Ladies. This is a very good text, though Exploring Government by Ray Notgrass is even better.