On Thu, 29 Sep 2011 20:58:29 +0000 (UTC), Gray Guest
wrote:


[. . .]

But to change the subject and the subject line....
I am looking for a good and readable intro to US Civics for a friend who
is going to become a US citizen.
He wants more than just to pass the test - which he's already fully
qualified to do
He wants more in depth analysis and commentary
In a way, I wish that Isaac Asimov had written a book on this comparable
to his Guide to the Bible..
it would have been a hell of a read...

Democracy In America by De Tocqueville.

de Tocqueville wrote his opus magnus almost 30 years before the Civil
War; it is not a civics book but a commentary/critique of the American
mind and culture at that time. It might be classed as sociology or
anthropology, but not contemporary political science.

Your friend needs a good book on the structure and mechanics of the
American version of a republic within a democracy, as a late 19th
century creed called it. I don't have one to offer; de Tocqueville
would be an interesting read but it doesn't deal with topics like the
effects of the Civil War, the additional amendments to the
Constitution, the wars since 1835, the relationships among
industrialization, massive immigration, the end of slavery and the
subsequent civil rights legislation.
--
Don Kirkman