Eloquence in an Electronic Age: The Transformation of Political Speechmaking

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Oxford University Press, Jul 21, 1988 - Political Science - 320 pages
In a book that blends anecdote with analysis, Kathleen Hall Jamieson--author of the award-winning Packaging the Presidency--offers a perceptive and often disturbing account of the transformation of political speechmaking. Jamieson addresses such fundamental issues about public speaking as what talents and techniques differentiate eloquent speakers from non-eloquent speakers. She also analyzes the speeches of modern presidents from Truman to Reagan and of political players from Daniel Webster to Mario Cuomo. Ranging from the classical orations of Cicero to Kennedy's "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech, this lively, well-documented volume contains a wealth of insight into public speaking, contemporary characteristics of eloquence, and the future of political discourse in America.
 

Contents

1 Educating the Eloquent Speaker
3
2 Incapacitating the Eloquent Speaker
31
3 The Flame of Oratory The Fireside Chat
43
4 The Effeminate Style
67
5 The Memorable Phrase The Memorable Picture
90
6 Dramatizing and Storytelling
118
7 Conversation and SelfRevelation
165
8 The Divorce Between Speech and Thought
201
9 Mating the Best of the Old and the New
238
Notes
257
Bibliography
269
Index
293
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Page 4 - We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air; we shall defend our island whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills, we shall never surrender...

About the author (1988)

Kathleen Hall Jamieson is Professor of Communication and Dean of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the author of several books, including Presidential Debates.

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