In So Many More Words

Robert Schmuhl

Description

When In So Many Words first appeared in 2006, the Chicago Tribune observed that Robert Schmuhl’s collection of essays offered “some of the sharpest and most informative cultural criticism available.”

Now, In So Many More Words expands on the writings in the first edition and includes seventeen new essays written during the past four years. Schmuhl analyzes the emergence of Barack Obama and evaluates America’s new political landscape in light of the 2008 election. Schmuhl also looks at contemporary media and the cultural effects created by bloggers, pundits, and cable shouters. The explosive growth of news sources, he says, “comes at a public price—a continuing fragmentation of audiences and a marked decline in a commonly shared culture.”

Sujets

• Public Policy
• Elections
• Campaigns
• Political Process
• Political Science
• Essays
• América
• Politics Magazine
• Electoral calendar 2008
• General officer
• General
• America
• Barack Obama

Informations

• Publié par: University of Notre Dame Press
• Date de parution: 15 septembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780268092733
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

I n S o M a n y M o r e Wo r d s

InSo Many m o r e Words

A r g u m e n t s a n d A d v e n t u r e s

e x p a n d e d

e d i t i o n

Robert Schmuhl

University of Notre Dame Press Notre Dame, Ind iana

Copyright © 2010 by University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, Indiana 46556 www.undpress.nd.edu All Rights Reserved

Manufactured in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Schmuhl, Robert. In so many more words : arguments and adventures / Robert Schmuhl. — Expanded ed. p. cm. ISBN-13: 978-0-268-04134-2 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-268-04134-2 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. United States — Politics and government. 2. Political culture — United States. 3. American literature. 4. Journalism — United States. 5. American literature. 6. United States — Civilization. I. Title. JK21.S236 2010 306.20973 — dc22

2010025307

∞The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources.

tO J O h N W. G à l l I v à N

and

his family

for their values and vision

today and tomorrow

Contents

Preface to the Expanded Edition XI Acknowledgments XIII

Introduction 1

pàRT i. màTTERs pOlITIcàl àND JOuRNàlIsTIc

Reagan and Obama: Not So Different?

Will Inspiration Lead to Action?

13

7

7 A New Beginning 1 Trying to Bridge the Political Divide 21 The Tricky Terrain of Common Ground 25 Choosing a President: IsThisWhat We Want?

A Proposal for Reform 33 What It Takes — and What We Do

37

Statecraft, Stagecraft — and Spincraft 41 Reagan and the 1994 Republican Sweep

Ronald Reagan, Author

46

The Living-Room Factor 49 What Teddy White Wrought 52 Power, Peril, and the Presidency 58 Going Our Way: A New Foreign Policy

43

68

30

C o n t e n t s vIII

At Decade’s End: America in 2010

The Communal Lifeline

News without End

95

88

84

Tempering Media Skepticism: A History Lesson

Ben Hecht and Chicago 111 The Front PageTurns Seventy-Five

pàRT ii. màTTERs LITERàRy

Where Have All the Thinkers Gone?

Keeping Words Alive

Never at a Loss for Words

Rare Red Smith

161

143

Pride and Joy 178 A Sentence to Write 181 184 Rites of Writing 187 Once Is Not Enough Process vs. Product 191

Between Books

194

Reading Fellow Travelers

The Gift of New Life

The Reviewing Stand

Writers and Dublin Town

Two Tales of One City

200

203

146

197

209

212

Frank McCourt Looks for Ghosts

118

216

133

106

252

275

278

268

pàRT iii. màTTERs pERsONàl

They’re Everywhere

224

The End of the Wrigley Connection

Lost and Found 261 Obsession 265 A Look at the New World

That Yank on the Radio

True Confession

C o n t e n t s IX

221

243

Reducing the Distance 227 May 1970 231 The Grim Subject of Humor Being There 246 Scout’s Honor 249

256

Confessions of a Quote Slut

An Allergy to Abstraction