Welcome to the third edition of American Democracy Now! In creating the first edition of this text, we sought to merge our years of experience as classroom instructors and our desire to captivate students with the compelling story of their democracy into a student-centered text. In the second edition we refined those goals with an integrated learning program for American government to maximize student performance.

Now in this third edition, we have developed a new chapter on Politics and Technology to give students a better understanding of how technology has affected our current political climate.

The key to student success is the ability to think critically about American government and politics. American Democracy Now, 3/e, teaches students the essential elements, institutions, and dynamics of American government. As they gain an understanding of the fundamental character of our political process, they also learn to ask the questions that make their understanding of American government meaningful to them. They learn how the fundamental principles of American democracy inform their understanding of the politics and policies of today, so that they can think about the policies they would like to see take shape tomorrow. In short, they learn to inquire: how does then and now shape what's going to happen next? This then, now, next approach to critical thinking serves as the basis for student participation.

American Democracy Now, 3/e, takes a broader view of participation than the textbooks we have used in the past. To us, participation encompasses a variety of activities from the modest, creative, local or even personal actions students can take to the larger career choices they can make. And today, technology plays an enormous role in shaping political participation—particularly the participation of young people. By recognizing the legitimacy of new forms of political participation, we are giving students the tools to define what participation means to them and make active choices about where, when, and how to participate. And choosing how to participate makes American government matter.

As the students in our American Government classroom become ever more diverse, the challenge is not to appeal directly to their personal backgrounds; the challenge is to hone their critical thinking skills, foster and harness their energy, and create tools that facilitate their success in the American government course. We know we have succeeded when students apply their knowledge and sharpened skills to consider the outcomes they—as students, citizens, and participants—would like to see.

Facilitating their success means joining students where they are. The third edition of American Democracy Now further integrates technology into our students' study of politics, so that their engagement with content is seamless. Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter are not only powerful social networking tools, but also powerful political and educational tools. New technologies help politicians to communicate with citizens, citizens to communicate with each other, and you to communicate with your students. We invite you to, and we wish you and your students success.