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| Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America (Great Questions in Politics Series) (2nd Edition) (Great Questions in Politics) | 
 enlarge | Authors: Morris P. Fiorina, Samuel J. Abrams, Jeremy C. Pope
Publisher: Longman
Category: Book
List Price: $17.80
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (16 reviews)
Sales Rank: 47054
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Edition: 2
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.4 x 0.6
ISBN: 0321366069
Dewey Decimal Number: 306.20973
EAN: 9780321366061
ASIN: 0321366069
Publication Date: November 19, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Part of the"Great Questions in Politics" series, Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized Americacombines polling data with a compelling narrative to debunk commonly-believed myths about American politics?particularly the claim that Americans are deeply divided in their fundamental political views. This second edition of Culture War? features a new chapter that demonstrates how the elections of 2004 reinforce the book?s argument that Americans are no more divided now than they were in the past. In addition, the text has been updated throughout to reflect data from the 2004 elections.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 11 more reviews...
 Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America (2nd Edition) November 16, 2008
Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America (Great Questions in Politics Series) (2nd Edition) (Great Questions in Politics) Some say that the United States has become extremely polarized while others say that the electorate is more "centrist" in nature. Who is correct? Fiorina does an excellent job of creating convincing evidence that both contentions are correct. Partisans are divided by a deep chasm of conservatism and liberalism yet those who wear the Independent label are more moderate just left and right of center. The author covers possible reasons for this divide and succinctly offers a glimpse into the future of the American electorate. This is a great book to add as an additional textbook for an undergraduate or graduate level course or just as a book for a "political junkies" who wants to learn more about United States politics.
 I completely disagree September 15, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I have had the opportunity to live in Boston then Dallas over the last 15+ years. Politically it's like living in two seperate countries.
I am liberal and can tell you for a fact that here in Dallas, I feel like I am living on another planet. I know a large number of people who actually believe a man built a big wooden boat (without the aid of Black and Decker) and put two of EVERY animal on it. They believe this without hesitation, even when I tell them there are over 30 million species. So that would be about 60 million animals and a darn big boat. Once you are willing to believe that facts no longer matter. SO I would contend we have one country that is fact based and the other that is faith based. For example, if you cut taxes you'll increase revenue. The facts are the two presidents who did that ran up HUGE budget deficits. But that fact seems to not matter to people who have faith that if you cut revenue somehow income will go up.
I wish the author was correct, but she is glossing over an extremely stark philosophical divide that will only get worse.
 Come down to earth America September 1, 2008
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
Sarah Palin is nominated for Vice President and evangelicals are going ga ga over the choice even though the woman has as much qualification for the job as the average church goer. But who cares this is the period of satisfying your biases through voting, vilifying the opposition with the kind of attacks that are based purely on personal attacks (see Swiftboating Kerry in 2004 and calling Obama a terrorist with Muslim background) while issues are hardly discussed. Here's a segment of the population seeking symbolic reassurances about gun rights, gay marriage and abortion (even though years of conservative rule has not brought these anywhere closer to policy) still salivating at the prospect that this nutty lady might make their dreams come true, while the country burns from wars and self inflicted economic disasters); and you think that is not polarization. I suppose if you had been in Nazi Germany in 1933 you would have thought Hitler was an average politician. It is very easy to lie with statistics particularly when you deal with such a difficult concept as polarization. You can change the units of analysis to the state as opposed to the county or metro area, you can ignore the fact that the last two elections were very close, and participation very high an indication of intense mobilization on both sides.
But dream on...things are just fine. Your children will thank you for having put everyone to sleep while their world was crumbling ....
A must read for life the modern voter. June 2, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book was an assignment for my political science class, and I started it believing, as most do, that America was a deeply divided nation of red and blue states. However, this book brilliantly shattered my views by just giving me the data without too much political rhetoric behind it.
While some reviewers believe the author is a demonstrably biased "red-stater" I think that regardless of whether or not this is the case, it is irrelevant to the overall integrity of the book which does a fantastic job of objectively presenting the data.
Anyone who believed as I did before I read this book that you live in an America at war, read this book and realize that average Americans really haven't changed all that much - the politicians have.
 Culture War June 2, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
It is a little hard to believe that our nation is not polarized; this book has the evidence to prove that wrong. It consists of evidence, such as graphs and charts, to prove that our country is not as polarized as the media makes it out to be. This book uses different polls, like the Gallup polls, to show that America is not greatly divided. The author argues that our nation is not divided between red and blue, but today has more of a centrist view. The author even uses key issues, like abortion and homosexuality, to prove that America is not as divided as we all think it is.
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