The All New Don't Think of an Elephant!: New York Times Bestseller: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate - Softcover

George Lakoff

Softcover

ISBN 10: 160358594X ISBN 13: 9781603585941

Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 2014

Synopsis

Since it became an international bestseller in 2004, Don't Think of an Elephant! has been the definitive handbook for progressives who want to articulate their goals and values to voters, understand how conservatives think and why people often vote against their best interests, and frame the political debate. Completely revised and updated to tackle today s issues, this 10th Anniversary Edition not only explains what framing is and how it works but also reveals why, after a brief stint of winning the framing wars in the 2008 elections, the Democrats have gone back to losing them, and what can be done about it. In this powerful new volume, George Lakoff delves into the issues that will dominate the midterm elections in 2014, the coming presidential elections, and beyond. He examines the current progressive and conservative frames on climate change, inequality, immigration, education, abortion, marriage, healthcare, national security, energy, and more. He explores why some issues have been difficult to frame, guides readers on how to frame complex issues without losing important context, and drives home the important differences between framing and spin. Do you think facts alone can win a debate? Do you think you know what makes a Tea Party follower tick? Do you think you understand how to communicate on key issues that can improve peoples lives? Whether you answer yes or no, the insights in The ALL NEW Don t Think of an Elephant! will not only surprise you, but also give you the tools you need to develop frames that work, and eradicate frames that backfire.

About this title

Review

"Lakoff single-handedly convinced liberals of the importance of language in winning political battles. Now he's back to finish what he started."--Markos Moulitsas, founder and publisher, Daily Kos

"The All New Don't Think of an Elephant! is an indispensable tool for progressives--packed with new thinking on framing issues that are hotly debated right now, and new insights on how to reclaim the political debate on meaningful terms that can yield true progress, not just political gains."--Jennifer M. Granholm, former governor of Michigan

"When the original Don't Think of an Elephant! came out in2004, Lakoff showed us that progressive Democrats voted on values, not issues--just like the right. Now, Dr. Lakoff is back to prevent a relapse of bad framing. The ALL NEW Don't Think of an Elephant! is a must read, every bit as important as the first edition. This time we have to train ourselves to think for the long term. Buy this book, memorize it, and teach it to your children. Progressives may be smart, but we don't communicate our ideas well. This book is the blueprint for how to do better."--Howard Dean, former chair of the Democratic National Committee and founder of Democracy for America

About the Author

George Lakoff is the country's leading expert on the framing of political discourse and one of the world's most renowned linguists and cognitive scientists. He is the author of numerous books on politics-including Don't Think of an Elephant!, The Political Mind, Moral Politics, Thinking Points, The Little Blue Book (with Elisabeth Wehling), and Whose Freedom?-as well as numerous books on language and the mind. Lakoff has consulted with the leaders of hundreds of advocacy groups on framing issues, lectured to large audiences across the country, run dozens of workshops for activists, spoken regularly on radio talk shows and TV shows, addressed the policy retreats and the caucuses for both the Senate and the House Democrats, consulted with progressive pollsters and advertising agencies, and been interviewed at length in the public media, and he continues to do extensive research on the framing of public discourse. Currently Distinguished Professor of Cognitive Science and Linguistics at the University of California at Berkeley, Lakoff is a founder of the fields of cognitive science and cognitive linguistics, has previously taught at Harvard and the University of Michigan, and was a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford. For more than two decades, he was codirector of the Neural Theory of Language Project at the International Computer Science Institute at Berkeley. He also spent more than a decade as senior fellow at the Rockridge Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, and has served on the international advisory board of Prime Minister Zapatero of Spain, on the science board of the Santa Fe Institute, as president of the International Cognitive Linguistics Association, and on the governing board of the Cognitive Science Society. He has lectured at major universities in dozens of countries around the world. His current technical research is on the theory of how the neural circuitry of the brain gives rise to thought and language. His blogs appear regularly on his website, www.georgelakoff.com, and at The Huffington Post, Truthout, Alternet, Common Dreams, and Daily Kos.

Edition details

• Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing Company
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 160358594X
• ISBN 13: 9781603585941
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 192