In this age of nearly unprecedented partisan rancor, you’d be forgiven for thinking we could all do with a smaller daily dose of politics. In his provocative and sharp book, however, Ned O’Gorman argues just the opposite: Politics for Everybody contends that what we really need to do is engage more deeply with politics, rather than chuck the whole thing out the window. In calling for a purer, more humanistic relationship with politics—one that does justice to the virtues of open, honest exchange—O’Gorman draws on the work of Hannah Arendt (1906–75). As a German-born Jewish thinker who fled the Nazis for the United States, Arendt set out to defend politics from its many detractors along several key lines: the challenge of separating genuine politics from distorted forms; the difficulty of appreciating politics for what it is; the problems of truth and judgment in politics; and the role of persuasion in politics. O’Gorman’s book offers an insightful introduction to Arendt’s ideas  for anyone who wants to think more carefully

Ned O’Gorman is professor of communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and author of The Iconoclastic Imagination, also published by the University of Chicago Press.

Preface

Introduction. Prodigal Politics

Chapter 1. Untwisting Politics
Chapter 2. Phenomenal Politics
Chapter 3. Judging Politics
Chapter 4. Lies, Damned Lies, and Politics
Chapter 5. Why We Need Rhetoric
Chapter 6. The Political Imagination (or, Freedom!)

Conclusion. Politics Reborn

Acknowledgments
Artist Statement
Notes
Bibliography
Index