It Was Like a Fever

Storytelling in Protest and Politics

By: Francesca Polletta

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Paperback | 1 May 2006 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Paperback
256 Pages

Edition Type
New edition

Dimensions(cm)
2.37 x 1.63 x 0.16

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Activists and politicians have long recognized the power of a good story to move people to action. In early 1960 four black college students sat down at a whites-only lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, and refused to leave. Within a month sit-ins spread to thirty cities in seven states. Student participants told stories of impulsive, spontaneous action-this despite all the planning that had gone into the sit-ins. "It was like a fever," they said.

Francesca Polletta's It Was Like a Fever sets out to account for the power of storytelling in mobilizing political and social movements. Drawing on cases ranging from sixteenth-century tax revolts to contemporary debates about the future of the World Trade Center site, Polletta argues that stories are politically effective not when they have clear moral messages, but when they have complex, often ambiguous ones. The openness of stories to interpretation has allowed disadvantaged groups, in particular, to gain a hearing for new needs and to forge surprising political alliances. But popular beliefs in America about storytelling as a genre have also hurt those challenging the status quo.
A rich analysis of storytelling in courtrooms, newsrooms, public forums, and the United States Congress, It Was Like a Fever offers provocative new insights into the dynamics of culture and contention.

Industry Reviews

"Assiduously researched, impressively informed by a great number of thoughtful interviews with key members of American social movements, and deeply engaged with its subject matter, the book is likely to become a key text in the study of grass-roots democracy in America." - Kate Fullbrook, Times Literary Supplement"

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Preface	p. vii
Why Stories Matter	p. 1
"It was like a fever ...": Why People Protest	p. 32
Strategy as Metonymy: Why Activists Choose the Strategies They Do	p. 53
Stories and Reasons: Why Deliberation Is Only Sometimes Democratic	p. 82
Ways of Knowing and Stories Worth Telling: Why Casting Oneself as a Victim Sometimes Hurts the Cause	p. 109
Remembering Dr. King on the House and Senate Floor: Why Movements Have the Impacts They Do	p. 141
Conclusion: Folk Wisdom and Scholarly Tales	p. 166
Notes	p. 189
Index	p. 231
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

It Was Like a Fever

Storytelling in Protest and Politics

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

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