Mark Caleb Smith

Marc Clauson

Emily K. Ferkaluk

Justin D. Lyons

David Rich

Kevin Sims

You are holding in your hands a piece of the counterculture. The recent tendency in the academic world has been away from primary sources and toward textbooks. Being a fairly traditional lot, we find that unacceptable. We focus on the “big ideas” that have shaped American government. There are many ways to gain exposure to these ideas, but in our opinion, none are better than actually reading the primary sources that first articulated them. That is why you will see many founding documents, Supreme Court cases, and momentous speeches within these pages. This collection will whet your appetite for exploring our rich American governmental heritage. Our hope is that this may be the beginning of a lifelong interest in the basis of our American government—how we got where we are today, and how we are to proceed from here!

Critical Readings for American Government, Second Edition

Rendering to God and Caesar

This is a biographical pairing of two of the greatest conquerors in human history, drawing its inspiration from Plutarch’s Parallel Lives. Like Plutarch, the purpose of the pairing is not primarily historical. While Plutarch covers the history of each of the lives he chronicles, he also emphasizes questions of character and the larger lessons of politics to be derived from the deeds he recounts. The book provides a narrative account both of Alexander’s conquest of the Persian Empire and Cortés’s conquest of the Aztec Empire while reflecting on the larger questions that emerge from each. The campaign narratives are followed by essays devoted to leadership and command that seek to recover the treasures of the Plutarchian approach shaped by moral and political philosophy. Analysis of leadership style and abilities is joined with assessment of character. Special emphasis is given to the speeches provided in historical sources and meditation on rhetorical successes and failures in maintaining the morale and willing service of their men.

Ambiguous Legacies of Leadership

Alexander the Great and Hernán Cortés

Justin D. Lyons

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