A Shining City on a Hill: Ronald Reagan's Economic Rhetoric, 1951-1989 (Praeger Series in Political Communication) - Hardcover

Kiewe, Amos; Houck, Davis W.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0275936341 ISBN 13: 9780275936341

Publisher: Praeger, 1991

Synopsis

This rhetorical criticism of spoken discourse examines Ronald Reagan's polished attempts to persuade the public on economic matters. Amos Kiewe and Davis Houck examine the substance, style, and developmental pattern of Reagan's rhetoric on economic matters and discuss how that rhetoric informed the president's views on other issues. This book demonstrates how rhetorical forces can play a significant role in shaping and selling economic policy.

Kiewe and Houck employ a variety of theoretical perspectives for their longitudinal study of Ronald Reagan's economic discourse, beginning with the former actor/President's Hollywood years. Their analysis of close to a hundred speeches provides a chronological account of the character and development of Reagan's economic rhetoric (as opposed to a critique of its effectiveness). Synthesizing the strategies, self-contradictions, shifts, influences, and patterns in Reagan's economic discourse, Kiewe and Houck conclude that Reagan's economic discourse heavily influenced his views and rhetoric on foreign policy, national defense, the environment, and other issues--Reagan saw the world through economic lenses. This study is valuable to political scientists, economists, and scholars of rhetoric.

About this title

Book Description:

The results of a longitudinal study of Ronald Reagan's economic discourse beginning in his Hollywood years, this book shows how rhetorical forces can play a significant role in advancing economic matters.

About the Author:

AMOS KIEWE is Assistant Professor of Speech and Communication at Syracuse University. His articles have been published in the Journal of American Culture, Communications Studies, and Legal Studies Forum.

DAVIS W. HOUCK is presently taking graduate courses at the Department of Rhetoric and Communication at the University of California at Davis, where he also teaches communications courses. His work has been published in Communications Studies.

About this edition

• Publisher: Praeger
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 0275936341
• ISBN 13: 9780275936341
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 264