As an undergraduate at Bradley University, one of my textbooks was Jacob and Vines, Politics in the American States. In graduate school, one of my instructors was Ken Vines and one assignment in his state politics class was to read the manuscripts of the second edition of this book. Now, in its 11th edition (at one point, I had a copy of every edition of this work), this book just keeps going.A strength is its comparative approach, seeing similarities and differences across the states and what the consequences might be. Chapters are chock full of relevant statistics across the states. Chapters explore a series of factors--from the context of state politics in the United States to key institutions (such as legislatures, governors, courts) to policy making (chapters cover such policy areas as corrections, fiscal policy, health and welfare programs, environmental policy and so on.The book is not necessarily a quick read, but it is a treasure trove of knowledge about the American states. Still a valuable enterprise in its 11th edition.