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The Presidents We Imagine - Two Centuries of White House Fictions on the Page, on the Stage, Onscreen, and Online (Paperback)
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The Presidents We Imagine - Two Centuries of White House Fictions on the Page, on the Stage, Onscreen, and Online (Paperback)
Series: Studies in American Thought and Culture
Expected to ship within 12 - 17 working days
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In such popular television series as "The West Wing" and "24," in
thrillers like Tom Clancy's novels, and in recent films, plays,
graphic novels, and internet cartoons, America has been led by an
amazing variety of chief executives. Some of these are real
presidents who have been fictionally reimagined. Others are
"might-have-beens" like Philip Roth's President Charles Lindbergh.
Many more have never existed except in some storyteller's
mind.
In "The Presidents We Imagine," Jeff Smith examines the
presidency's ever-changing place in the American imagination.
Ranging across different media and analyzing works of many kinds,
some familiar and some never before studied, he explores the
evolution of presidential fictions, their central themes, the
impact on them of new and emerging media, and their largely
unexamined role in the nation's real politics.
Smith traces fictions of the presidency from the plays and
polemics of the eighteenth century--when the new office was born in
what Alexander Hamilton called "the regions of fiction"--to the
digital products of the twenty-first century, with their seemingly
limitless user-defined ways of imagining the world's most important
political figure. Students of American culture and politics, as
well as readers interested in political fiction and film, will find
here a colorful, indispensable guide to the many surprising ways
Americans have been "representing" presidents even as those
presidents have represented them.
"Especially timely in an era when media image-mongering
increasingly shapes presidential politics."--Paul S. Boyer, series
editor
"Smith's understanding of the sociopolitical realities of US
history is impressive; likewise his interpretations of works of
literature and popular culture. . . .In addition to presenting
thoughtful analysis, the book is also fun. Readers will enjoy
encounters with, for example, "The Beggar's Opera," "Duck Soup,"
Edward Bellamy's "Looking Backward," Philip Roth's "Plot against
America," the comedic campaigns of W. C. Fields for President and
Pogo for President, and presidential fictions that continue up to
the last President Bush. . . . His writing is fluid and
conversational, but every page reveals deep understanding and
focus. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All
readers."--"CHOICE"
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