David Coates holds the Worrell Chair of Anglo-American Studies, Department of Political Science at Wake Forest University (NC). He previously held personal chairs at the universities of Leeds and Manchester in the UK. Dr. Coates has written extensively on labor politics, contemporary political economy, and US public policy.

• Chapter 1: A Call to Arms; Chapter 2: Clearing the Decks; Chapter 3: The Wonders of "Trickle-Down Economics"; Chapter 4: Cutting "Welfare" to help the poor; Chapter 5: "Reforming" Social Security; Chapter 6: Bringing Health to the Health-Care System; Chapter 7: Immigration Control in a Land of Immigrants; Chapter 8: Is God Necessarily Conservative?; Chapter 9: The Wisdom of the War in Iraq?; Chapter 10: The Real Causes of the Financial Meltdown; Select Bibliography; Index.

"With passion, disarming candor, and fair-minded analysis second to none, David Coates captures the pulse of American politics. Answering Back makes the best case yet for how to revitalize the Left--and outmaneuver the Right--in the political space broken open by the Obama presidency. If you are interested in the fate of American democracy and want to become a stakeholder you must read this book." --Joel Krieger, Norma Wilentz Hess professor of Political Science, Wellesley College; Editor in Chief, The Oxford Companion to Politics of the World