Book Series

The Center for Democratic Deliberation has partnered with the Pennsylvania State University Press in an effort to publish new, ground-breaking scholarship on rhetoric and civic deliberation.  This partnership has resulted in the creation of a new book series, “Rhetoric and Democratic Deliberation,” edited by Cheryl Glenn and Mike Hogan.  In accordance with the mission of the CDD, this book series will feature studies in the history of public deliberation in America, particularly in periods of democratic reform and experimentation; studies of campaign discourse and the impact of campaigns on voter attitudes and behaviors; studies of how public opinion is conceived and measured, and the impact of public opinion on public policy debates; studies of social movements and their role in democratic deliberation; studies of journalistic ethics, norms, and practices; studies of the political legal, and cultural constraints on free speech; and studies of the historical and civic literacy of the citizenry and the efficacy of various efforts to promote civic engagement. 

The CDD anticipates drawing upon its resources in several important ways to produce exciting and high quality scholarly work on democratic deliberation.  First, the Center will sponsor lecture series and symposia featuring both single scholars and groups of scholars with a view toward producing outstanding scholarly monographs and edited volumes. In addition, the Center will continue to support promising emerging scholars through its Center Fellows program.  Finally, the Center will exploit its connections with other programs and scholars across the nation, particularly in rhetorical studies, to identify promising projects for the series.

The first two volumes of the “Rhetoric and Democratic Deliberation” series are already nearing completion.  The first book in the series will be Karen Tracy’s groundbreaking study of grass-roots politics, Challenges of Ordinary Democracy: Discourse, Community, and Reasonable Hostility at a Local School Board.   A second volume to follow will contain essays from the Center’s lecture series, “Deliberating Across Differences.”  This collection will be edited by Keith Gilyard, Distinguished Professor of English at Penn State.  It will feature a lead essay by Princeton philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah (entitled “How to Argue with Strangers”), along with essays by Gilyard, LuMing Mao, Coretta Pittman, Krista Ratcliffe, Patricia Bizzell, and Haivan Hoang.  A second lecture series, led by Professor Stephen H, Browne of Penn State, will culminate in an edited volume tentatively entitled Rhetoric, Politics, and Religion: The Prospects for Democratic Deliberation in Twenty-First Century America.  This volume will include essays by representatives of the world’s three great monotheistic religions, as well as by academic specialists in the subject, and will reflect upon both the problems and possibilities of public discourse about religion and politics.

The CDD is looking forward to an exciting partnership with the Pennsylvania State University Press and to the exceptional scholarship on rhetoric and public deliberation that it will make possible.