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* Indicates former APSA Congressional Fellow
STRONGLY RECOMMENDED
The following books will provide you with an excellent basic knowledge of the contemporary Congress.
- Sarah A. Binder and Steven S. Smith,* Politics or Principle: Filibustering in the United States Senate (Brookings Institution, 1997).
- Timothy E. Cook,* Making Laws and Making News: Media Strategies in the House of Representatives (The Brookings Institution, 1989).
- Roger H. Davidson and Walter J. Oleszek, Congress and Its Members, 6th edition (CQ Press, 1997).
- Christopher J. Deering* and Steven S. Smith,* Committees in Congress, 3rd edition (CQ Press, 1997).
- Edward V. Schneier and Bertram Gross, Legislative Strategy (St. Martin's, 1993).
- Nelson W. Polsby, How Congress Evolves (Oxford University Press 2004).
- Barbara Sinclair,* Unorthodox Lawmaking: New Legislative Processes in the United States Congress (CQ Press, 1997).
RECOMMENDED
These books are slightly more specialized but each treats a subject that goes beyond the basics and provides you with a richer understanding of elements that are key to a more sophisticated understanding of the House and the Senate-partisan and constituent politics, recent reforms, the complexities of the legislative process, and budgeting.
- Jeffrey R. Biggs* and Thomas S. Foley, foreword by Mike Mansfield, Honor in the House: Speaker Tom Foley (Washington State University Press, 1999).
- Colton C. Campbell* and Paul Herrnson,* editors, War Stories from Capitol Hill (Pearson Education, 2004).
[Written by former Fellows, each chapter provides a dynamic view of how Members balance the demands of constituents, lobbyists, congressional leaders, and their own consciences when making national policy. The book also covers a wide range of congressional processes, including private constituent meetings, speeches, committee hearings and markups, leadership strategy sessions, and the rules that govern floor procedures.]
- William F. Connelly,* Jr. and John J. Pitney, Jr., Congress' Permanent Minority?: Republicans in the U.S. House (Littlefield Adams, 1994).
- Richard F. Fenno, Jr., Home Style: House Members in Their Districts (Little-Brown, 1978).
[In addition to Home Style readers may wish to pick up any one of Fenno's five "home style" studies of the Senate. Published by CQ Press, they are on former Senators Andrews and Quayle, and current Senators Domenici, Glenn, and Specter.]
- James G. Gimpel, Fullfilling the Contract: The First 100 Days (Allyn and Bacon, 1996).
- John R. Hibbing and Elizabeth Theiss-Morse, Congress as Public Enemy: Public Attitudes Toward American Political Institutions (Cambridge, 1995).
- Allen Schick, The Federal Budget: Politics, Policy and Process (The Brookings Institution, 1995).
- Walter J. Oleszek, Congressional Procedures and the Policy Process, 4th edition (CQ Press, 1995).
[Recommended for Fellows who need a thorough introduction to or reference work on the basics of legislative and parliamentary procedure.]
- James A. Thurber,* Remaking Congress: Change and Stability in the 1990s (Congressional Quarterly Press, 1996).
OTHER BOOKS OF VALUE: BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books in this section touch upon a wide variety topics regarding the U.S. Congress. In some cases the books are highly academic in orientation; in others, the author(s) paint with a very broad brush. Thus, they are provided with breadth in mind and with the intention of showing "what's out there" rather than with the suggestion that Fellows should feel responsible for them. Put differently, the list is supposed to be informative not intimidating.
- R. Douglas Arnold, The Logic of Congressional Action (Yale University Press, 1990).
- Ross K. Baker, House and Senate (Norton, 1989).
- Jon R. Bond* and Richard Fleisher, The President in the Legislative Arena (University of Chicago Press, 1990).
- David T. Canon, Actors, Athletes, and Astronauts: Political Amateurs in the United States Congress (University of Chicago Press, 1990).
- Richard E. Cohen, Rostenkowski: The Pursuit of Power and the End of the Old Politics (Ivan R. Dee, 1999).
- Roger H. Davidson, editor, The Postreform Congress (St. Martin's Press, 1992).
- Lawrence Dodd* and Bruce Oppenheimer,* editors, Congress Reconsidered, 6th edition (CQ Press, 1997).
- Ronald D. Elving,* Conflict and Compromise: How Congress Makes the Law (Simon & Schuster, 1995).
- C. Lawrence Evans,* Leadership in Committee: A Comparative Analysis of Leadership Behavior in the U.S. Senate (Michigan, 1991).
- Richard F. Fenno, Jr., The United States Senate: A Bicameral Perspective (American Enterprise Institute, 1982).
- Morris P. Fiorina, Congress - Keystone of the Washington Establishment, 2nd edition (Yale University Press, 1989).
- Morris P. Forina, Divided Government, 2nd Edition (Allyn and Bacon, 1996).
- Richard L. Hall,* Participation in Congress (Yale, 1996).
- Paul S. Herrnson,* Congressional Elections: Campaigning at Home and in Washington (CQ Press, 1995).
- Gary C. Jacobson, The Politics of Congressional Elections, 3rd edition (Harper-Collins, 1992).
- Charles O. Jones, Separate But Equal: Congress and the Presidency (Chatham House, 1995).
- Burdett Loomis,* The New American Politician: Ambition, Entrepreneurship, and the Changing Face of Political Life (Basic Books, 1988).
- David Magleby* and Candice Nelson,* Congressional Campaign Finance: Assessing Proposals for Reform (The Brookings Institution, 1990).
- Forrest Maltzman,* Competing Principals: Committees, Parties, and the Organization of Congress (Michigan, 1997).
- Thomas E. Mann,* editor, A Question of Balance: The President, The Congress, and Foreign Policy (The Brookings Institution, 1990).
- Janet M. Martin,* Lessons from the Hill: The Legislative Journey of an Education Program (St. Martin's, 1994).
- David R. Mayhew, Congress: The Electoral Connection (Yale University Press, 1974).
- Norman Ornstein,* Thomas E. Mann,* and Michael J. Malbin, Vital Statistics on Congress: 1997-1998 (CQ Press, 1997).
- Glenn R. Parker,* Characteristics of Congress: Patterns in Congressional Behavior (Prentice-Hall, 1989).
- Mark A. Peterson,* Legislating Together: The White House and Capitol Hill from Eisenhower to Reagan (Harvard University Press, 1990).
- David E. Price, The Congressional Experience: A View from the Hill (Westview, 1992).
- Randall B. Ripley and James M. Lindsay, Congress Resurgent: Foreign and Defense Policy on Capitol Hill (Michigan, 1993).
- David W. Rohde,* Parties and Leaders in the Post Reform House (University of Chicago Press, 1991).
- Barbara Sinclair,* The Transformation of the U.S. Senate (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989).
- Barbara Sinclair,* Legislators, Leaders, and Lawmaking: The U.S. House of Representatives in the Postreform Era (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995).
- Steven S. Smith,* Call to Order: Floor Politics in the House and Senate (The Brookings Institution, 1989).
- Frank J. Sorauf, Inside Campaign Finance: Myths and Realities (Yale University Press, 1992).
- James A. Thurber,* Rivals for Power: Presidential Congressional Relations (CQ Press, 1996).
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