Political scientists and political communication scholars sometimes forget that the messenger is just as important as the message. Bob Denton has written a thoughtful book, demonstrating that ethos and character matter and that moral presidential leadership is essential for a healthy republic and vibrant democracy. His work harkens back to a presidency that Franklin D. Roosevelt called 'preeminently a place for moral leadership.'

Henry C. Kenski, University of Arizona, coauthor of Attack Politics

Robert Denton has written a remarkable book. Using the prisms of contemporary American politics and political journalism, Denton has plumbed the depths of our present polarization. He finds the roots of that polarization are deeper than the empty careerism of office holders, the dominance of campaign managers or the machinations of a sensationalistic press. With incredible daring Denton plumbs the deep divisions in America?divisions between locals and cosmopolitans, between the secular and the devout, andbetween rural and urban perspectives. He finds that our present political rhetoric mobilizes and exaggerates these divisions. His book unmasks this rhetoric and documents its unhealthy effects. This book is passionate, fluent, powerful. Denton is clearly fed up with the kind of nonsense that passes for political analysis and the mean-spirited character assassination that passes for criticism. He has also abandoned the good-buddy language of advertising that characterizes so many contemporary books onpolitical culture. His book is blunt, built around a driving purpose. Reading it was like taking a shower in cold slivers of steel.

Andrew A. King, Louisiana State University; editor of Postmodern Political Communication

Robert Denton has written a remarkable book. Using the prisms of contemporary American politics and political journalism, Denton has plumbed the depths of our present polarization. He finds the roots of that polarization are deeper than the empty careerism of office holders, the dominance of campaign managers or the machinations of a sensationalistic press. With incredible daring Denton plumbs the deep divisions in America-divisions between locals and cosmopolitans, between the secular and the devout, and between rural and urban perspectives. He finds that our present political rhetoric mobilizes and exaggerates these divisions. His book unmasks this rhetoric and documents its unhealthy effects.

This book is passionate, fluent, powerful. Denton is clearly fed up with the kind of nonsense that passes for political analysis and the mean-spirited character assassination that passes for criticism. He has also abandoned the good-buddy language of advertising that characterizes so many contemporary books on political culture. His book is blunt, built around a driving purpose. Reading it was like taking a shower in cold slivers of steel.

Andrew A. King, Louisiana State University; editor of Postmodern Political Communication