The selection of a textbook is one of the most important decisions a professor makes when preparing his or her courses and syllabi. The textbooks we select for our courses can directly impact the approach and themes of a course and often represent the majority of readings which students will be assigned throughout the semester. Unfortunately, the selection of a course textbook is often made in a haphazard manner. Faculty make this critical decision by simply choosing a textbook they previously used as a student or graduate teaching assistant, the text used by the preceding professor, or simply the textbook suggested by the last publishing sales representative who visited their office.

The goal of this symposium is to provide both junior and senior faculty with a simple and useful resource to assist with selecting a textbook. The plan is to include in each April issue of PS: Political Science & Politics a review of several textbooks for four to six courses regularly offered in political science curricula. Each of the reviews will provide a systematic review of several core textbooks and a few new and/or innovative texts. The reviewers will focus on a variety of issues they recognize as important in the selection of textbooks for the courses.

This inaugural textbook review symposium examines texts of five core courses offered within political science curriculua including: (1) Introduction to Political Theory, (2) American National Government, (3) State and Local Government, (4) Undergraduate Methods, and (5) Graduate Methods (see table 1). As symposium editor, I hope the readers of PS find this symposium to be a useful resource in selecting the right textbook for your students and courses. Finally, I encourage faculty to contact PS if they are interested in contributing to next April’s review of textbooks. We have not yet selected the courses we will be reviewing for the April 2018 textbook review symposium and we always appreciate input of our readers.

Table 1

Reviewed Textbooks by Course