Holiday Gift Guide - 2007

Campaign consultant and political consultant Kerwin Swint asserts, in Mudslingers, that "people love negative campaigns." He reviews what he claims are the most negative campaigns. Supporting those who argue that negative ads today are "no worse" than in days of old, he puts the 2004 Bush-Kerry campaign at #25. The Johnson-Goldwater ("Daisy") campaign comes in at #23. The dirtiest, he claims, is the 1970 Democratic primary race between George Wallace and Albert Brewer. Don't expect an in-depth analysis of any campaign: the average is nine pages.

Drew Westen, a professor of psychology at Emory University, demonstrates how the brain processes information: "The idea of the mind as a cool calculator that makes decisions by weighing the evidence bears no relation to how the brain actually works." The book details Presidential election data from the 1950s through 2000, asking how does emotion affect voting behavior. Westen shows, through a tour of American political leaders, that Americans vote with their hearts, not their heads. He focuses on emotional intelligence and the importance of narrative, or storytelling, to present policy choices. In his research, Westen bucks the conventional wisdom of many cognitive psychologists, political scientists, and economists.

Paul Boller provides the political history lesson that you didn't get in school! He charts 200 years of campaign rhetoric, noting the mudslinging and invective that seems a hallmark of American presidential politics. It proceeds from the unanimous selection of George Washington to the divisive, Supreme Court-led selection of George W. Bush. Boller is professor emeritus of history at Texas Christian University.

What Orwell Didn't Know is a collection of essays edited by Andras Szanto, with an introduction by Orville Schell. Szanto, a writer and researcher, is affiliated with Columbia University, New York University and Sotheby's Institute of Art. The book reviews the state of political communication on the eve of the 60th anniversary of Orwell's 1984. It is critical of the role media have played in the past decade; many of us remember 1984 for its introduction of doublespeak, but how many remember the permanent state of war (fear)? Essayists include Mark Danner, Francis Fitzgerald, George Lakoff, Michael Massing, Francine Prose, David Rieff, Orville Schell and George Soros.

Republican pollster Frank Lutz brings us Words That Work. Lutz offers 11 rules for effective communication, common sense for the most part. He repeatedly insists: "It's not what you say, it's what people hear." This is not unlike "you've got to be believed to be heard," the mantra of Bert Decker. A book for people who love words ... or those who want to know how certain words are selected.