Reading List

Watching the Sunday morning politics shows like Face the Nation or Meet the Press in the 1990s and early 2000s, I would hear hosts and guests mention President Kennedy. As I learned more about his tragic assassination on November 22, 1963, I wanted to learn more about the person and the President. I read this book when I was a community college student. And it was one of the first books I read from start to finish without it being a required course reading.

"Finally!" I told myself after finding this book in my quarterly review of different university book presses. I quickly ordered and read this book in 2021.  This provides an accessible introduction to a topic in political science that has been walled off from many due to the "highly technical" (aka mathematical and logical models) nature of it. However, Dr. Mershon and Dr. Shvetsova do a stellar job in making this inaccessible topic accessible. Also, in 2021, I attended a 2-day online workshop hosted by them during the annual conference American Political Science Association and it was great to listen and learn from them and others.

As I was preparing to transfer from Cerritos Community College to UC Merced in 2005, I was looking for "how to" guides on making a difference. Since I was leaving home for literal new pastures in the San Joaquin Valley, I needed knowledge about making a difference, because that is what I wanted to do in my adopted home. After reading this book, I attended the Alliance for Regional Stewardships conference in Florida and met with two of the three authors of the book. Times have passed, but the principles of this book are still relevant, and maybe even more so today given our national political climate.