A valuable and sophisticated study of the nature of political communication in advanced societies.
Choice
. . . a good guidebook for political communications specialists and practitioners . . . well worth the time and effort involved in reading and absorbing it. Presidential Studies Quarterly
. . . it offers a compendium of virtually everyone, practitioners as well as scholars, who have ever written on the subject.
American Political Science Review
This newly updated revision of a leading work provides a systematic and comprehensive analysis of the role of communication in American politics. A synthesis of some of the best writings in political communication from the fields of communication, political science, and social psychology, the book examines communication problems and processes common to political institutions and other functions of political life. This edition features completely new chapters and sections devoted to the courts and the processes unique to regional and local politics. Arguments have been condensed and made more accessible to general readers. The entire text has been updated with recent examples. Although the framework for analysis is provided by conventional categories of political activity like the Congress, the mass media, and the presidency, the essential analysis focuses on pivotal communication processes.
In Political Communication in America politics is seen as a process centered on the communication of reward and legitimacy. What most Americans know about politics has been communicated to them through their representatives, the press, and the public relations machinery prevalent at all levels of government. This study is concerned with the communication processes that can nurture or starve a nation's political life. Students of political science and communication studies will find Political Communication in America a valuable resource.
About the Author: ROBERT E. DENTON is Head of the Department of Communication Studies at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He teaches and writes in the areas of the American Presidency, political communication, mass media, and contemporary rhetorical theory. He is the author of The Primetime Presidency of Ronald Reagan (Praeger, 1988).
GARY C. WOODWARD is Associate Professor in the Department of Speech Communication and Theatre Arts at The College of New Jersey. He is the author of articles and reviews in speech and communication journals, and is coauthor of Persuasion and Influence in American Life.
