Norton’s best-selling introduction to American government, in the shorter Essentials format built for a single-semester course.

We the People: An Introduction to American Politics, Fourteenth Essentials Edition, covers the constitutional foundations, institutions and political behaviour that make up the American system — in 688 pages rather than the full edition’s bulk. The Essentials editions keep the core narrative and analytical framework while trimming length, which is why they are so widely assigned in introductory politics courses.