This is a time of maximum danger for our country?a time of crisis. The American people historically turn to the President during these times for explanation, for comfort, and for exhortation to purpose. Yet, the President does not speak directly to the people. His speech is mediated; he speaks through the media, members of the media comment on presidential speech, and others comment on the comment. In short, the media 'frames' the presidential message, thus ensuring certain reactions to it. Jim Kuypers is the best in the business at explaining presidential crisis communication and its relationship to the media. Regardless of your partisan position on the War on Terror, Bush's War: Media Bias and Justifications for War in a Terrorist Age must be onyour reading list..

Dennis W. White, Arkansas State University; retired lieutenant colonel, U.S. Army

an important new book to examine how powerfully the president's fortunes depend not only on what the administration says but also what the media say the White House said.

Presidential Studies Quarterly

This book is a concise and informative, even pleasurable, read....Kuypers offers a well-developed argument worthy of debate.

Review of Communication

This is a skilled and thoughtful work of scholarship, well worth a careful reading. Kuypers's book is provocative in the best sense of the word: It can stimulate fresh thinking about presidential rhetoric and press reporting of it-which Kuypers shows can be two very different things.

Stephen D. Cooper, Marshall University; author, Watching the Watchdog: Bloggers as the Fifth Estate

This is a time of maximum danger for our country-a time of crisis. The American people historically turn to the President during these times for explanation, for comfort, and for exhortation to purpose. Yet, the President does not speak directly to the people. His speech is mediated; he speaks through the media, members of the media comment on presidential speech, and others comment on the comment. In short, the media 'frames' the presidential message, thus ensuring certain reactions to it. Jim Kuypers is the best in the business at explaining presidential crisis communication and its relationship to the media. Regardless of your partisan position on the War on Terror, Bush's War: Media Bias and Justifications for War in a Terrorist Age must be on your reading list.

Dennis W. White, Arkansas State University; retired lieutenant colonel, U.S. Army