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. As well as an overall introduction each part has a shorter introduction and each reading is prefaced with contextualising remarks. This collection of of American social and political thought includes long extracts from Frederick Jackson Turner, Max Weber Michael Sandel, John Rawls, C. Wright Mills, Sheldon Wolin, Judith Shklar, Seyla Benhabib and Richard Rorty. The organisation of the reader - covering traditions and then issues - aims to facilitate students' understanding of the texts. Contextualising introductions should further aid understanding.