Rhetoric Review Oct 2011

Magic for a People Trained in Pragmatism: Kenneth Burke,Mein Kampf, and the Early 9/11 Oratory of George W. Bush

Jason Thompson University of Wyoming

Abstract

In 1939 Kenneth Burke's book review of Mein Kampf, in isolating how the “crude magic” of Nazism worked, called for rhetorical critics to enter the social and political scene of the day by resisting strongman rule wherever it appeared: “[A] people trained in pragmatism should want to inspect this magic” (Philosophy 192). George W. Bush, who also had “crude magic,” used the Hitlerian rhetoric of a common enemy and a geographic center in order to realign post 9/11 attitudes sufficient to identify the non-Western other as a common enemy, to convert New York's fallen Twin Towers into a new and noneconomic symbol of US government, and to transform himself from a lazy cowboy into a medicine-man.

Journal
Rhetoric Review
Published
2011-10-01
DOI
10.1080/07350198.2011.604608
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Topics
modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism public rhetoric book reviews
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (1)

  1. Carstarphen et al. (2017)
    Rhetoric, Race, and Resentment: Whiteness and the New Days of Rage
    Rhetoric Review

References (23)

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