Political English
Subtitle: Language and the Decay of Politics
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Published: 2019
Language: eng
Number of pages: 238
ISBN-13: 9781350101388
Subjects: Language and languages, political aspects; English language, political aspects; Communication in politics
Description: "From post-truth politics to 'no-platforming' on university campuses, the English language has been both a potent weapon and a crucial battlefield for our divided politics. In this important and wide-ranging intervention, Thomas Docherty explores the politics of the English language, its implication in the dynamics of political power and the spaces it offers for dissent and resistance. From the authorised English of the King James Bible to the colonial project of University English Studies, this book develops a powerful history for contemporary debates about propaganda, free speech and truth-telling in our politics. Taking examples from the US, UK and beyond - from debates about the Second Amendment and free-speech on campus, to the Iraq War and the Grenfell Tower fire - this book is a powerful and polemical return to Orwell's observation that a degraded political language is intimately connected to an equally degraded political culture."--Bloomsbury Publishing.