Understanding the US Government

De: Jennifer Nicoll Victor, The Great Courses

Narrado por: Professor Jennifer Nicoll Victor

Whether we participate or not, government plays a deeply fundamental role in how we live. By gaining a clear grasp of political institutions, we’re better equipped to engage with government and politics; to be discerning consumers of news, media, and public opinion; and to grasp the deeper content and meaning of the legislation and policies we live with.

In these 24 refreshingly balanced lectures, Professor Victor presents a comprehensive examination of American politics in which she demystifies its many puzzles and offers a nonpartisan look at the outcomes it produces. You’ll delve into essential topics such as:

• How the federal bureaucracy is organized. Learn how our bureaucracy breaks down into the 15 cabinet departments, the many independent governmental agencies, and the government corporations;
• Intricacies of Congress and the legislature. Across three lectures, study how the House and Senate function and interact, how congressional bills are passed, and how congressional elections operate;
• The politics of the Supreme Court. Investigate outside influences on the Court’s rulings, take account of judicial ideology within the Court, and witness the political and policy effects of the Court’s actions;
• The challenge of campaign finance. Observe how organized interests maneuver around campaign finance laws, ensuring that a small group of people finance most of what happens during our elections;
• Politics and the media. Track the phenomenon of political media as both information and entertainment, and grasp how our media environment is ripe for misinformation and conspiracy theories;
• America’s deep political polarization. Take a rigorous look at how the United States has become more politically polarized than at any time in the past 140 years.

In Understanding the US Government, you’ll gain valuable insights for assessing the policies coming out of Washington, the news, the media, and the ongoing political dialogue that moves our democracy and shapes the actions of the United States on the world stage.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2020 The Great Courses (P)2020 The Teaching Company, LLC

Could be better.

A lot of good information plagued with opinions and skewed facts. Less bias would do wonders for the course.

Essential

This is for everyone that lives in the United States or wants to understand the U.S.

Lives up to title.

Not only was the information great, it was presented and conveyed very well. Thank you.

Good Attempt to Appear Unbiased

Overall informative. I do believe that most college studies on political science, including this one, have a demonstrable bias that tends to lean to the left, mainly when they make the assertions that they claim as unbiased facts and on some "study" that was conducted (keep in mind that most of those conducting these studies are most likely Democrat). Examples are claims that the media remains mostly ethical and unbiased, or that the Republican Party contains more extremists in its ranks. I think it is blatantly obvious based on recent history that assertion is absolutely absurd. That being said, omitting those types of assertions, the lecture was nonetheless informative. One just has to discern the differences.

Tactful Progressive Bias

Yes, this book is from an individual who has a degree in Political Science, which usually has a progressive bias, but there were plenty of elements left out or had a personal platform included into the story. This book addresses the Internment Camps the U.S. had for the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor. There was the emphasis on how the U.S. judged all Japanese citizens for their ties to Japan. It was just easier to throw them in Internment Camps. However, the book doesn't address how the U.S. also had the Internment Camps for the Germans. It illuded that it was all about a race based biased. Towards the end it discusses how it's the right-wing media that spreads the conspiracy theories and how ring wingers have a narrow gap to get their information. There needs to be some sort of 'it's my opinion' v. here's some speculation. I've listened to a decent amount of The Great Courses, and this is the first where there's a stronger focus on her opinion compared to presenting the full picture. I was hoping for more insight of each department of the government, not a tactful political jab here and there.

This book covers:
The U.S. Government framework
Civil Liberties
Bills turning into Laws
Congressional Elections
Presidency Power
Government Bureaucracy
The Supreme Court
Elections and Voting
Government Affecting Economy
Financial Safety Nets
Foreign Policies
American Democracy

The writer/speaker was quite articulate and had a notable understanding of the topic. Just disappointed in her politics getting involved.

Great for beginners

Everything was great about this book. Easy to understand and follow. Basically just the basic fundamentals of government. Will be interesting to see how she feels about the 2034 Presidential Election.

Another interesting book on the US government

I myself, like many Americans today did not really understand how the US government really works. That is until I read this book. It gave me a different perspective on an angle about the US government but I never really understood it until now.
Therefore, I have been inspired to do some thing for my country. Something has to be done about democracy before it is too late the freedom of America must stand.

Long story short, if you want a different angle on the US government and how it works. I definitely recommend you give this course a listen to. It is without a doubt inspiring.

Too much personal bias

Thus is an important topic that has been neglected in our educational system. the material was relevant and pretty well presented, however it was disappointing that the author's personal biases kept coming out . I love the great courses series for their educational content. Educational courses should NOT be a forum for politicized rhetoric.

A Tale of Two Courses (Feel a Bit Hoodwinked)

Listening to these 24 lectures was a bizarre journey to day the least.

Thirteen of the lectures were excellent and had me wanting more and more (I listened for hours on end unable to stop that Great Courses Plus app). But the other eleven were so intolerable to get through I was wondering if I was listening to the same course.

In fact I wasn't. There are two distinct courses here.

After reading the description of this course I was left with the conclusion that this is a civics course on how the various branches of the US government are organized, operate, and cooperate together to facilitate our representative democracy. I was impressed by how deep Professor Nicoll Victor covered the following:

1- The branches and institutions of the US government
2- Civil Liberties
3- Civil Rights
4- Political parties
5- Election processes
6- Campaign finance
7- The economy
8- Foreign policy

For the record those lectures are 2-5, 7-11, 14, 18, 21, and 23.

I expected an overview of each topic but instead the processor provided a deep understanding of not only how and why certain entities were setup but also how they have evolved over the years. This is not just a basic Civics 101 course/overview. The history of these topics (including how the professor sprinkles in brief summaries of the various critical Supreme Court decisions through the years) was fascinating and entertaining to listen to.

However, it didn't take long to see that the real intent/purpose of this course was to center on the current polarization and partisanship that characterizes the US government and public in an effort to try to explain why the political climate of today exists. This means the Presidential election of 2016 was a focal point numerous times.

While I can appreciate people wishing to understand how we got where we are, I was disappointed this was where the course kept turning towards and ultimately it hit me this WAS the course. I was hoping more for a neutral assessment of US government organization and inner workings of the day to day both through the years and today and would have appreciated if the "politics" were left out in an effort to treat this as a traditional civics course.

If I had a strong interest in performing a root cause analysis of how the country has become so divided I'd have looked for a course that presented itself as such. This course should have been named something to the effect of "Understanding how the US government and public have become politically polarized and partisan". And I wouldn't have bothered with it. Deal with this enough day after day. I don't need it invading my learning and entertainment time.

While the professor provides good history on the institutions she is covering, there is still a good amount of the context and content of the lectures that are based on current times (2016-2020) as a way for people to make sense of the non-partisanship environment we live in/current times. I would’ve preferred that she stay away from material that can be controversy or will be irrelevant in a few years’ time.

As if that wasn't off putting enough there was this: though the professor didn’t deliver the lectures in a blatant partisan manner, she does lean Democratic and it comes out at times as almost side-swipes at Republicans. Too many veiled comments that President Trump and the Republicans are out of touch. For the record I'm an independent.

So you can see how I am torn. Its not so much that half the course is excellent and the other half poor but that I was hoodwinked into investing in one course and getting something else. Leaves a bad taste. For this very reason I wouldn't recommend this course to friends. But I would highly recommend select lectures to any and everyone because of how surprisingly useful and in-depth they were.

Great listen for any American.

I consider myself more knowledgeable about civics than the average American but I still learned a lot.