Proverbs are the best policy : folk wisdom and American politics /
Wolfgang Mieder, widely considered the world's greatest proverb scholar, here considers the role of proverbial speech on the American political stage from the Revolutionary War to the present. He begins his survey by discussing the origins and characteristics American proverbs and their spread...
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Access full-text online via JSTOR |
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| Author / Contributor: | |
| Imprint: |
Logan, Utah :
Utah State University Press,
[2005]
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| Format: | Electronic |
| Language: | English |
| Subjects: |
| Summary: | Wolfgang Mieder, widely considered the world's greatest proverb scholar, here considers the role of proverbial speech on the American political stage from the Revolutionary War to the present. He begins his survey by discussing the origins and characteristics American proverbs and their spread across the globe hand in hand with America's international political role. He then looks at the history of the defining proverb of American democracy, "government of the people, by the people, for the people." Subsequent essays consider such matters as Abigail Adams's masterful use of politically charged proverbs; the conversion of the biblical proverb "a house divided against itself cannot stand" into a political expression; Frederick Douglass's proverbial prowess in the battle against racial injustice; how United States presidents have employed proverbial speech in their inaugural addresses; and the proverbial language in the World War II correspondence between Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, which sharpened their communication and helped forge bonds of cooperation. Mieder concludes with an insightful, relevant examination of the significance of the ambiguous proverb "good fences make good neighbors." |
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| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (1 electronic resource (xvi, 323 pages)) |
| Format: | Master and use copy. Digital master created according to Benchmark for Faithful Digital Reproductions of Monographs and Serials, Version 1. Digital Library Federation, December 2002. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (pages 297-309) and indexes. |
| ISBN: | 0874215188 9780874215182 1283283425 9781283283427 9786613283429 6613283428 |
| Language: | English. |
| Reproduction Note: | Electronic reproduction. |
| Source of Description, Etc. Note: | Print version record; resource not viewed. |
| Action Note: | digitized |