Creatures of Politics

Michael Lempert is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Michigan and author of Discipline and Debate: The Language of Violence in a Tibetan Buddhist Monastery.Michael Silverstein is Charles F. Grey Distinguished Service Professor of Anthropology, Linguistics, and Psychology and in the Committee on Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities at the University of Chicago. His published works include Talking Politics: The Substance of Style from Abe to "W."

"Speaks directly to interests and concerns of linguistic anthropologists, sociolinguists, and discourse analysts, [and] the insights into American political discourse that the book provides will be of interest to a broader audience. . . . Accessible enough that it should appeal to popular audiences interested in language and politics."—Adam Hodges, author of The "War on Terror" Narrative: Discourse and Intertexuality in the Construction and Contes"This is first-class scholarship, bringing very sophisticated and revelatory analytical perspectives to bear generatively on the stuff of presidential and electoral politics in the US."—Don Brenneis, University of California, Santa Cruz"A timely, fascinating, pathbreaking book by two outstanding scholars that is sure to appeal to a wide audience."—Richard Bauman, author of Voices of Modernity: Language Ideologies and the Politics of Inequality"This book captures better than any other the way 'messaging' works in the mediatic public sphere. The authors have developed a sophisticated analytic framework, while their lively account of the culture of presidential communication remains sensitive to both the comedy and the seriousness of its subject."—Michael Warner, Yale University"...Very few scholars can match [the authors'] detailed analysis of political and media discourse. The authors illuminate the subtle, multimodal, and intertextual mechanisms by which messages are constructed. Those who read their work will learn much about the semiotics of presidential campaigns as well as the cultural expectations that regulate and naturalize our electoral character contests."—Presidential Studies Quarterly"A quirky, sharp and depressing analysis of the current state of campaigning."—Kirkus Reviews"[Creatures of Politics] cover[s] different aspects of messaging with interesting discussions, and provides[s] new ways of thinking about campaign coverage."—Foreword Reviews"[Creatures of Politics] makes for a fascinating read and an illuminating look into the complex realm of political rhetoric."—Publishers Weekly"The authors draw on findings from electoral politics, the mass media and linguistic anthropology to analyse political communications, exploring how the 'messages' of presidential candidates are crafted not only through their platforms, but through verbal, sartorial, gestural, behavioural and linguistic cues."—Survival

• Preface and Acknowledgments 1. Introduction: Message is the Medium2. Getting it Ju:::st Right3. Addressing "The Issues" 4. Ethnoblooperology5. Unflipping the Flop6. The Message in Hand7. What Goes Around. . .