Böcker i Lexington Studies in Contemporary Rhetoric-serien

This book argues that social business, in order to sustain its vital distinctiveness in democratic societies, must shift from an informative to a performative model of communication, especially regarding organizational storytelling, awareness-raising, and social problem-solving.

The Rhetorical Invention of America's National Security State examines the rhetoric and discourse produced by and constitutive of America's national security state. Hasian, Lawson, and McFarlane illustrate the importance of rhetoric to the expansion of the American national security state in the post-9/11 era through their examination of the global war on terrorism, enhanced interrogation techniques, drone crew stress, activities of Edward Snowden, rise of Special Forces, and popular representations of counterterrorism. The coauthors contend this expansion was not the result of lone, imperial executives or a nefarious state within a state, but was co-produced by elite and non-elite Americans alike who not only condoned, but also in many cases demanded, the expansion of the national security state. This work will be of interest to scholars in communication studies and political science.

This book analyzes the rhetoric of Donald Trump to argue that Trump embraces conflicting populist and Republican values, and as a result has relied on populist and polarizing rhetoric, along with fabricated crises, to reconcile these combating ideals and uphold his image of an "anti-status quo politician."

Rhetoric of the Opioid Epidemic demonstrates that framing the epidemic as a medical issue instead of an effect of moral failing holds more potential for solving the epidemic through medical treatment and reconnecting sufferers back to society. This rhetorical move separates the opioid epidemic from the criminal and immoral frames that were cast upon the crack epidemic and initial framing of the AIDS epidemic. Popular culture and governmental response case studies include: President Trump's March 19, 2018 address to the nation, ODMAP produced by the Washington/Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking in January 2017, news stories from national sources dating from 2015 to 2020 about the chronic pain management debate, two documentaries, Heroin(e) (2017) and One Nation Under Stress: Deaths of Despair in the United States (2019), and Ben is Back (2018).