RELATED INFORMATION University of Nebraska Press

The clash of political cultures is nothing new, according to a new book on Kansas politics co-authored by Wichita State University professor Ed Flentje and Kansas State University professor Joe Aistrup.

The book, "Kansas Politics and Government: The Clash of Political Cultures," is published by the University of Nebraska Press. The book examines Kansas politics, historically and presently, through the lens of political cultures.

Ed Flentje

"Core political values underlie political cultures and drive state politics and have done so throughout Kansas history," said Flentje, professor of public administration in WSU's Hugo Wall School of Urban and Public Affairs.

"A political culture that fostered the evangelical movement in the 19th century and made Kansas the first state in the union to adopt constitutional prohibition may be observed in the early 20th century with the banning of cigarettes and indecent postcards and the censoring of moving pictures," he said. "Today, this political culture has forced abortion and the teaching of evolution, among other issues, on the state's agenda."

The book is out in paperback and can be purchased on Amazon or at http://ow.ly/Z7Wb. It is expected to come out in hardback in March.

Flentje said he has been a student of Kansas politics for many years, and writing this book was something he simply has been interested in doing for some time. He found an ally in Aistrup, a Kansas politics expert, professor of political science and interim associate dean of K-State's College of Arts and Sciences.

"I knew he was really on top of the some of the same things," Flentje said.

In addition to his new book, Flentje is the author or editor of several publications on state and local government, including "Kansas Policy Choices" and the papers of Kansas governors Robert Bennett and Mike Hayden.

Flentje, who has been at Wichita State since 1979, is also the former Secretary of Administration for then governor Mike Hayden, 1987-1988, and was interim city manager for the city of Wichita from January-July 2008.