This book offers a critical introduction to the media as well as a "self defense" against the "spin" of politicians, advertising, and assorted propagandists. Its interdisciplinary application of principles of critical thinking and argumentative rhetoric can be incorporated into a diverse range of college courses, including communication, journalism, rhetoric, and media criticism. Lazere offers a basic guide to and critique of the semantic complexities of terms such as liberal, conservative, left, and right, as well as related words like democracy, freedom, capitalism, and socialism. He...

This new edition is substantially updated for a new era of rising populism, renewed racial tensions, new social movement forms, and one of the most rhetorical presidential campaigns in memory. Moreover, the prose has been significantly streamlined for fluid student comprehension. Added are new readings from such authors as Michelle Alexander, Paul Krugman, Republican pollster Frank Luntz, and libertarian Leonard Peikoff. As before, this authored textbook-reader addresses the need for college students to develop critical reading, writing, and thinking skills for self-defense in the...

This new edition is substantially updated for a new era of rising populism, renewed racial tensions, new social movement forms, and one of the most rhetorical presidential campaigns in memory. Moreover, the prose has been significantly streamlined for fluid student comprehension. Added are new readings from such authors as Michelle Alexander, Paul Krugman, Republican pollster Frank Luntz, and libertarian Leonard Peikoff. As before, this authored textbook-reader addresses the need for college students to develop critical reading, writing, and thinking skills for self-defense in the...