Race Appeal: How Candidates Invoke Race in U.S. Political Campaigns (2011)
“Race Appeal is a well-researched, intellectually sophisticated-with some very convincing arguments-and cogently presented book. It is an exhaustive study that covers the full range of what might be considered race in the U.S. political campaign process. While sweeping in its attention, the book is thematically and theoretically organized in a most productive way, presenting a complex dialogue around racial groups, historical periods, and recent theorization.”
–Robin R. Means Coleman, Associate Professor of Communication Studies and of AfroAmerican and African Studies at University of Michigan
“Race Appeal is a thought-provoking study of the interaction of race and electoral politics in inter-racial and intra-racial campaigns. Analyzing campaign ads, media coverage, experimental results, and campaign strategies, Charlton McIlwain and Stephen Caliendo demonstrate that despite the election of America’s first black president, race still matters and that its study requires the kind of comprehensive treatment demonstrated in this admirable book.”
–Andrew Rojecki, University of Illinois at Chicago
FROM THE BACK COVER
In our evolving American political culture, whites and blacks continue to respond very differently to race-based messages and the candidates who use them. Race Appeal examines the use and influence such appeals have on voters in elections for federal office where one candidate is the member of a minority group.
Charlton McIlwain and Stephen Caliendo use various methods of analysis for examining candidates “playing the race card” in political advertisements. They offer a compelling analysis of the construction of verbal and visual racial appeals, and how the news media covers campaigns involving candidates of color.
Combining rigorous analyses with in-depth case studies—including an examination of race-based appeals in the historic 2008 presidential election—Race Appeal is a groundbreaking work that represents the most extensive and thorough treatment of race-based appeals in American political campaigns to date.
New: Read the introduction (.pdf) for free.