Sam Smith's Great American Political Repair Manual

While you may not agree with Sam Smith's views or solutions, he does a wonderful job of showing what is wrong with the system in America. His book is full of great quotes and wonderful humor and offers hordes of ideas that will make you optimistic about the future despite the large number of depressing points Smith brings up. He shows how America has worked in many areas and how it has failed - most importantly though he offers loads of solutions on how to fix what's broken. A must-read for people on all sides of the political spectrum, and especially for people apathetic about the promise of politics.

Sam Smith's Great American Political Repair Manual talks a lot about lateral thinking. Lateral thinking is solving problems by coming up with non-traditional alternatives. Specifically, Sam Smith talks about political problems and lateral solutions. Smith gives both liberals and conservatives something to think about in this fascinating book.I use it in introductory political science classes because it is a simple read and explains complex topics (like voting systems) lucidly.Smith encourages looking beyond political correctness and beyond corporate media spin to search for real solutions to American problems which, as Smith admits, may not work, but promise to move us beyond stalemate over broken programs and failed solutions.