Many scholars believe that the framers of the Constitution intended Congress to be the preeminent branch of government. Indeed, no other legislature in the world approaches its power. Yet most Americans have only a murky idea of how it works.

In The U.S. Congress, Donald A. Ritchie, a congressional historian for more than thirty years, takes readers on a fascinating, behind-the-scenes tour of Capitol Hill--pointing out the key players, explaining their behavior, and translating parliamentary language into plain English. No mere civics lesson, this eye-opening book provides an insider's perspective on Congress, matched with a professional historian's analytical insight. After a swift survey of the creation of Congress by the constitutional convention, he begins to unscrew the nuts and pull out the bolts. What is it like to campaign for congress? To attract large donors? To enter either house with no seniority? He answers these questions and more, explaining committee assignments (and committee work), the role of staffers and lobbyists, floor proceedings, parliamentary rules, and coalition building. Ritchie explores the great effort put into constituent service--as representatives and senators respond to requests from groups and individuals--as well as media relations and news coverage. He also explores how the grand concepts we all know from civics class--checks and balances, advise and consent, congressional oversight--work in practice, in an age of strong presidents and a muscular Senate minority (no matter which party is in that position).

In this sparkling addition to Oxford's Very Short Introduction series, Donald Ritchie moves beyond the cynicism and the platitudes to provide a gem of a portrait of how Congress really works.

Taking its name from the Latin for “coming together,” Congress is the place where elected offi cials from all parts of the United States converge to govern. That coming together can be heard in the many regional accents of its members in debate, their constant references to their home states, and their efforts to protect and promote constituent views and interests in the legislation they enact.

But Congress really does not exist as an institution. The term encompasses both the Senate and the House of Representatives, each operating under different rules and in different atmospheres. Each has its own leadership and its own side of the Capitol Building, where the room numbers are prefi xed with either H- or S-. The House and Senate must each pass bills in precisely the same language to send them to the president, and each needs a two-thirds vote to override a veto. They meet jointly to hear the president’s State of the Union message, and they hold conference committees to work out differences in the bills they have passed, but otherwise each has little to do with the “other body.”