> At War with Metaphor : Media, Propaganda, and Racism in the War on Terror > By Erin Steuter and Deborah Wills, Mount Allison University, Sackville, > New Brunswick, Canada > www.lexingtonbooks.com > • August 2008 • 266 pp > • 0-7391-2198-7 | 978-0-7391-2198-6 Cloth List Price : $70.00 > • 0-7391-2199-5 / 978-0-7391-2199-3 Paper List Price : $29.95 > > "A valuable contribution to our growing understanding of the ways in > which we talk ourselves into war, genocide, and other crimes against > humanity. It causes us to wonder what might happen if we had the courage > to deal with our rivalries and conflicts in a realistic manner rather > than dehumanizing and demonizing those we consider enemies." > —Sam Keen, author of Faces of the Enemy > > “Steuter and Wills explore how metaphors in commentary, news, and > political speeches dehumanize an enemy, an adversary, a race, religions, > cultures, and ethnic groups. Although they take a historical, > multinational approach, citing copious 20th-century examples, the authors > focus on, and carefully cover, the rhetoric used to justify the US > invasion and involvement in Iraq since 2003. The authors draw examples of > divisive rhetoric from political cartoons, commentaries, news reports, > political speeches, and other sources. In an interesting final chapter, > they raise the issue of whether mass media rhetoric could be as effective > an instrument for fostering peace as it is for fostering war, > intolerance, and aggression. The volume complements, and provides > examples that indirectly update, two well-known books : Edward Bernays’s > “Propaganda” and Noam Chomsky’s “Media Control : The Spectacular > Achievements of Propaganda”. Written in easy-to-read prose and including > abundant footnotes and a comprehensive bibliography, this volume will > serve those interested in the mass media per se and its effects on > society. Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and > professionals.” > –- /R. A. Logan, emeritus, University of Missouri-Columbia/ > Choice Reviews > > When photographs documenting the torture and humiliation of prisoners at > Abu Ghraib came to the attention of a horrified public, national and > international voices were raised in shock, asking how this happened. At > War with Metaphor offers an answer, arguing that the abuses of Abu Ghraib > were part of a systemic continuum of dehumanization. This continuum has > its roots in our public discussions of the war on terror and the > metaphors through which they are repeatedly framed. > > Arguing earnestly and incisively that these metaphors, if left > unexamined, bind us into a cycle of violence that will only be > intensified by a responsive violence of metaphor, Steuter and Wills > examine compelling examples of the images of animal, insect, and disease > that inform, shape, and limit our understanding of the war on terror. > Tying these images to historical and contemporary uses of propaganda > through a readable, accessible analysis of media filters, At War with > Metaphor vividly explores how news media, including political cartoons > and talk radio, are enmeshed in these damaging, dehumanizing metaphors. > Analyzing media through the lenses of race and Orientalism, it invites us > to hold our media and ourselves accountable for the choices we make in > talking war and making enemies. > > Table of Contents : Introduction • Part I : Metaphor Matters • Chapter 1. > Weaponizing Words : Metaphor and War • Chapter 2. Making Enemies : > Propaganda and the Making of the Orientalist "Other" • Chapter > 3. Rallying Racism : Dehumanization and Genocide • Part II : Enlisting > Discourse • Chapter 4. Rats in the Trap : Animal Metaphors in the News • > Chapter 5. Infestation and Eradication : Exterminationist Rhetoric in > Political Cartoons • Chapter 6. HateSpeak : Discourses of Dehumanization > in Talk Radio • Part III : Dangerous Discourses • Chapter 7. Media March > to War : Understanding News Filters • Chapter 8. Boiling the Blood and > Narrowing the Mind : Fomenting Backlash • Chapter 9. Talking Our War to > Peace : New Metaphors for Change > > Contact Author : Erin Steuter, Department of Sociology, Mount Allison > University, > Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada, E4L 1A7. > Email : esteuter@mta.ca Phone : 506 536 1262. > > > > Dr. Erin Steuter > Professor > Sociology Department > Mount Allison University > 144 Main Street > Sackville, N.B., Canada, E4L 1A7 > Phone : 506 536 1262 > Fax : 506 364 2625 > http://www.mta.ca/faculty/socsci/sociology/steuter/index.html >