Tucked between the larger commonwealths of Pennsylvania and Virginia and overshadowed by the political maneuverings of its neighbor, Washington, D.C., Maryland has often been overlooked and neglected in studies of state governmental systems. With the publication of Maryland Politics and Government, the challenging demographic diversity, geographic variety, and dynamic Democratic pragmatism of Maryland finally get their due. Two longtime political analysts, Herbert C. Smith and John T. Willis, conduct a sustained inquiry into topics including the Maryland identity, political history, and interest groups; the three branches of state government; and policy areas such as taxation, spending, transportation, and the environment. Smith and Willis also establish a “Two Marylands” model that explains the dominance of the Maryland Democratic Party, established in the post–Civil War era, that persists to this day even in a time of political polarization. Unique in its scope, detail, and coverage, Maryland Politics and Government sets the standard for understanding the politics of the Free State (or, alternately, the Old Line State) for years to come.

Maryland Government is a high school textbook developed to prepare students for the government sections of the Maryland High School Assessment. Students will learn about Maryland's state and local governments through primary sources and activities that support 100% of the Voluntary Curriculum Standards. Eight engaging, full-color chapters use standards-based essential questions to cover Maryland's geographic, economic, historic, and political background; the history of state government; the three branches of government; local government; public policy; and civic duty. Through Key Ideas and Key Terms as well as dozens of charts, maps, photos, primary sources, small group activities, and critical thinking skills, students explore main ideas and soon realize government is not "us and them" but "We, the People." Book also includes glossary and index. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1 A Portrait of Maryland Chapter 2 Maryland's Political Heritage Chapter 3 The Legislative Branch Chapter 4 The Executive Branch Chapter 5 The Judicial Branch Chapter 6 Local Government Chapter 7 Public Policy Chapter 8 The Voice of the People

Political Problems and Personalities in Contemporary Maryland provides a comprehensive rhetorical analysis of contemporary politics and political communication in Maryland at both the state and local levels. Theodore F. Sheckels and Carl Hyden approach rhetoric in a broader sense, arguing that actions by political players – including decisions on housing policy, urban redevelopment policy, and transportation policy—are not in a separate category from their messages. In many cases, they argue, actions are messages, often with important material consequences. Rather than focusing solely on previous or upcoming elections, as political communication has traditionally been examined, Sheckels and Hyden give considerable space to non-election topics, responding to current shifts in political communication scholarship and encouraging others to examine political communication at the local and state levels elsewhere in the United States. Scholars of communication, political science, rhetoric, and history will find this book of particular interest.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.