This Reader provides substantial extracts from the core texts in the field of American social and political thought. The aim is to demonstrate the rich intellectual tradition of the United States and to facilitate a better understanding of American society and politics through the reproduction of key texts from a wide variety of thinkers. The Reader is structured to enable a clear understanding of the ideas presented. The first part covers the core traditions of American social and political thought - American Exceptionalism, Political Theology, Republicanism, Liberalism and Pragmatism. In the second part texts have been selected to demonstrate the ways in which these traditions have been applied to a broad range of issues and conditions - Democracy and Power, Justice and Injustice, Pluralism and Multiculturalism, Civil Society and Social Theory and the Task of Intellectuals. The final section looks at American Social and Political Thought at the Dawn of the 21st Century. Key Features: * Unique combination of American social and political thought * Includes substantial readings from Frederick Jackson Turner, Max Weber, Michael Sandel, John Rawls, C.Wright Mills, Sheldon Wolin, Judith N. Shklar, bell hooks, Seyla Benhabib and Richard Rorty * Organisation of reader - covering traditions and then issues -facilitates students' understanding of the texts * Clear, contextualising introductions further aid understanding * Although both are stand-alone volumes, the Reader and the Introduction can form an ideal package for courses on American Social and/or Political Thought