Political Conversion

Personal Transformation as Strategic Public Communication

Political Conversion cover

Political Conversion

Personal Transformation as Strategic Public Communication

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Description

Stories of religious conversion have been told for millennia. Yet many prominent figures such as Ronald Reagan, Hillary Clinton, and Rick Perry have also used stories of their change from one political worldview to another as a communication strategy aimed at winning the hearts and minds of the public. This book is about political conversion stories in public discourse, in their evolution from and interactions with religion. From a historical perspective, it charts the development of conversion narratives from religious contexts to their contemporary applications as specifically political messages. Since these narratives continue to be used in the culture wars, this book examines several related autobiographies that contributed to the use of this strategy in contemporary U.S. politics. Each case shows how shifts during the postwar period called for conversion texts under varying guises, and illustrates how and why the majority of these stories have been of conversions from the ideological left to the right. Examining political conversion as a form of public persuasion, Political Conversion ultimately provides insight into what these types of civic-religious stories mean for democratic communication and communities.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction: Political Transformation as a Pervasive Strategy
Chapter 1: Political Conversion as Manichaean Deduction: Whittaker Chambers’s Witness
Chapter 2: Political Conversion as Intellectual Reduction: Norman Podhoretz’s Breaking Ranks
Chapter 3: Political Conversion as Generational Induction: David Horowitz’s Radical Son
Chapter 4: Political Conversion as Bypassed Seduction: Garry Wills’s Confessions of a Conservative
Chapter 5: Political Transformation in U.S. Politics

Bibliography
Index
About the Author

Product details

Published 20 Apr 2018
Format Ebook (Epub & Mobi)
Edition 1st
Extent 312
ISBN 9781498575737
Imprint Lexington Books
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

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