Title: Saddam's word
First published: 1998
Description: This is the first serious attempt to understand modern Iraq through a close examination of the political discourse used by the Bath regime and its leader, Saddam Hussein. Drawing from newspaper articles and official publications, as well as Hussein's public statements, speeches, and writing, Saddam's Word demonstrates how the regime's propaganda defines the range of acceptable public discussion and manipulates history in an attempt to unify diverse and competing ethnic and religious groups.

The revival and rewriting of Iraqi and Islamic myth, along with the construction of viable contemporary myths in today's language, are key instruments in the regime's credibility. Its 29-year hold on Iraqi power - unbroken through war, economic disaster, and ethnic strife - can be largely attributed to the subjugation of the media and public discourse to its own ends.

Saddam's Word will be of much interest to students and scholars of the contemporary Middle East, to observers of Saddam Hussein and his regime, and to those interested in how a regime maintains power by controlling public discourse.
Subjects: Discourse analysis, Government and the press, Mass media policy, Political aspects, Political aspects of Discourse analysis, Politics and government, Political Process, Aspect politique, General, Medias, Politique et gouvernement, POLITICAL SCIENCE, Politique gouvernementale, Analyse du discours, Etat et presse, Iraq, politics and government, Hussein, saddam, 1937-2006, Mass media, middle east, Political oratory
Places: Iraq
People: Saddam Hussein (1937-)
Time periods: 1991-
LC classification: DS79.7 .B4613 1998