Approaching Democracy addresses the evolving nature of the American experiment in democratic government. It teaches students the theory and basics of American political science and the nation's political history. It provides the critical thinking skills needed to analyze these evolving relationships. Addressing a joint session of the U.S. Congress on February 1, 1990 Vaclav Havel, a former dissident Czech playwright once imprisoned by his country’s Communist government and later elected president, said “As long as people are people, democracy, in the full sense of the word, will always...