Overview

"Robert Ivie, who has written extensively over the last thirty years on America's rhetorical appetite for war, discusses democracy's centrality to the national identity and how prevailing constructions of democracy constitute a republic of fear in which the threat of foreign and domestic ""otherss"" chronically exaggerated through rituals of vilification and victimization. In reassessing the nation's traditional distrust of democracy (the lively and healthy exchange of differing ideas and ideals) and critiquing the rhetoric of evil, Ivie argues that the problem of international terrorism is best addressed by strengthening, rather than weakening, America's democratic practices--that is, by enriching a democratic culture of robust debate. Divisive issues, for Ivie, should be engaged overtly and constructively, contested through a rhetoric of identification that bridges the differences between adversaries without effacing their identities. This would be, he believes, a strategy more responsive to, and realistic for, the prevailing condition of racial diversity in the global information age. Democracy and America's War on Terror will be of interest to public policymakers and informed general readers as well as students and scholars in the fields of rhetoric, political theory/philosophy, democratic theory, U.S. foreign relations/policy, war and peace studies, terrorism, and cultural studies."

Full Product Details

9780817353384

Table of Contents

Reviews

"""A superb book. Tight, coherent, and well conceived, it is a timely intervention in very important current events and issues. More important, it nicely joins commentary with a theoretical analysis of democracy that is compelling. This book is an excellent example of a kind of public intellectualism that is all too rare."" --Jeffrey C. Isaac, author of Democracy in Dark Times ""Robert Ivie is a first-rate scholar, and this book shows a stunning mastery of the scholarship and journalism converging on the topic. He writes clearly and authoritatively on everything from Greek ideas about democracy and rhetoric to yesterday's speech by a politician. This is an important book deserving a wide readership."" --Jay Mechling, author of On My Honor: Boy Scouts and the Making of American Youth"

"""A superb book. Tight, coherent, and well conceived, it is a timely intervention in very important current events and issues. More important, it nicely joins commentary with a theoretical analysis of democracy that is compelling. This book is an excellent example of a kind of public intellectualism that is all too rare.""-- Jeffrey C. Isaac, author of Democracy in Dark Times ""Robert Ivie is a first-rate scholar, and this book shows a stunning mastery of the scholarship and journalism converging on the topic. He writes clearly and authoritatively on everything from Greek ideas about democracy and rhetoric to yesterday's speech by a politician. This is an important book deserving a wide readership.""--Jay Mechling, author of On My Honor: Boy Scouts and the Making of American Youth"

Both a terrific read and a revolutionary contribution to our understanding of the Valmiki Ramayana-and of the many Ramayanas that followed. The translation is smooth, spirited, and accurate, and the seven essays brilliantly illuminate the text. Together they show why this largely unknown final book of the Ramayana is the answer to many of the enigmas in the rest of the text and the explanation of much of the worship of Rama that is to come. -- Wendy Doniger, University of Chicago No one has written with greater empathy about the Ramayana and about Rama than Arshia Sattar. In her translation and study of the epic's final book, she gets to the heart of the Ramayana dynamics as they come to their elegiac, contradictory, and transcendent conclusion. Her exploration of the sociopolitical, literary, and religious signifiers in the conclusion of India's preeminent romantic legend is both accessible and illuminating. Just as the Uttara is a discursive epilogue to the Ramayana itself, so Sattar's essays are a satisfying and stimulating coda to her vigorous translation of the text. -- David Gitomer, DePaul University Arshia Sattar's lively and accessible new translation brings life to the often-overlooked but crucial final volume of Valmiki's epic. This illuminating kanda portrays the history of Ravana, Hanuman's mischievous childhood exploits, and two of the most controversial episodes in the entire epic. Sattar's introductory essays provide readers with a cogent framework to appreciate and analyze the subtleties of the story. -- Paula Richman, Oberlin College

Author Information

Robert L. Ivie is Professor of Communication and Culture at Indiana University and coauthor of Cold War Rhetoric: Strategy, Metaphor, and Ideology and Congress Declares War: Rhetoric, Leadership, and Partisanship in the Early Republic.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available