Book Reviews

Abstract

At a time when U.S. book publishers have made 9/11 and terrorism into their own literary genres with over 2,000 books currently available, Carol Winkler’s In the Name of Terrorism: Presidents on Political Violence in the Post–World War II Era is a timely, important, and unique work. Readable as a history, a policy analysis, and as a rhetorical study, this book stands out because the author reminds us that the idea of terrorism has been an important weapon in every presidential administration’s linguistic arsenal since the 1960s. More importantly, she illustrates how the deployment of the concept in presidential discourse has usefully served to label enemies, establish cultural narratives, and—for better and worse—shape the direction of U.S. policy. In her quest for the definition of this vexing topic, Winkler directs her attention to the executive branch. The combination of president as commander in chief of the armed forces and as chief translator of clandestine intelligence data for the American public makes, “the executive branch … the single most vital source for understanding how terrorism functions within American culture” (p. 7). According to Winkler, what presidents say—and what they say about terrorism in particular—deserves attention because these utterances often justify the exercise of power.