Description
Book SynopsisPerhaps no other presidential candidate or sitting president has attracted as much attention from rhetorical critics as Barack Obama. Much of this work was conceived and written during Obama's initial presidential campaign, or relatively early in his two terms in office. This book provides rhetorical critics an opportunity to revisit their published work on Obama in light of events that have occurred since its publication. In each chapter, these eminent critics begin by summarizing the analysis and conclusions in their original essays on Obama, and then reflect on their previous conclusions, revising or extending them in response to developments since the publication of the original work. The chapters provide a glimpse into the inventional strategies of practicing critics and into some of the ways that that critical insights may evolve over time. Scholars rarely have an opportunity to publish essays that reflect on their own previous work, even though few resources can be of greater
Trade Review
“Robert E. Terrill, himself an astute critic of African American discourse, has assembled here fourteen superb critics, all of whom have written fine essays on Senator, candidate, and/or President Obama’s rhetoric. Terrill has offered them an enticing invitation to revisit their earlier critical works on Obama’s rhetoric; all have responded with penetrating chapters that are certain to reward careful readings by scholars and students. What a wonderful collection!” Carole Blair, Professor of Rhetorical Studies, Department of Communication, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; co-editor of Critical Questions: Invention, Creativity, and the Criticism of Discourse and Media
Table of Contents
Robert E. Terrill: Introduction – Peter Simonson: Rhetorical Charges: Mercurian Figures and Democratic Hope after Obama – David A. Frank/Mark Lawrence McPhail: A Wrestling of Brothers: (Re)Writing Obama Separately and Together (Again) – Amy L. Heyse/Ebony A. Utley: Barack Obama’s Neo-Racial Responses to Black Death – Robert C. Rowland: Obama’s Rhetoric of Myth and Reason – Robert L. Ivie/Oscar Giner: Barack Obama at the Threshold of a New America – Richard W. Leeman: The Once and Future Teleological Discourse of Barack Obama – Martin J. Medhurst: Testing the Narrative Signature Perspective: The Case of Obama and Health Care Reform – Derek R. Sweet/Margret McCue-Enser: Losing Patience with an Imperfect President and Imperfect People – Kristen Hoerl: How Selective Amnesia Brought Us the First Black Socialist President of the United States – Jennifer R. Mercieca: A Reflection on the Obama Phenomenon, Our Heroic Expectations, and the Obama Presidency – Contributors – Selected Bibliography – Index.
