The topic of this book is persuasive rhetoric in political discourse. It asks a familiar, though as yet only partially answered question—how is it that human beings can be persuaded to do things through language? Why do we find certain speakers, certain arguments convincing, while we reject others almost without a second thought? Is there any connection between the substance of an argument and its persuasive force; or do we acquiesce to propositions on largely subconscious grounds?

Douglas Ponton’s answer to these ambitious questions follows a discourse semantics approach, in the...