The 1968 Democratic Convention, best known for police brutality against demonstrators, has been relegated to a dark place in American historical memory. Battleground Chicago ventures beyond the stereotypical image of rioting protestors and violent cops to reevaluate exactly how—and why—the police attacked antiwar activists at the convention. Working from interviews with eighty former Chicago police officers who were on the scene, Frank Kusch uncovers the other side of the story of ’68, deepening our understanding of a turbulent decade. “Frank Kusch’s compelling account of the clash between Mayor Richard Daley’s men in blue and anti-war rebels reveals why the 1960s was such a painful era for many Americans. . . . to his great credit, [Kusch] allows ‘the pigs’ to speak up for themselves.”—Michael Kazin “Kusch’s history of white Chicago policemen and the 1968 Democratic National Convention is a solid addition to a growing literature on the cultural sensibility and political perspective of the conservative white working class in the last third of the twentieth century.”—David Farber, Journal of American History

"This volume of essays is the first to focus on the Colored Conventions movement, the nineteenth century's longest campaign for Black civil rights. Well before the founding of the NAACP and other twentieth-century pillars of the civil rights movement, tens of thousands of Black leaders organized state and national conventions across North America. Over seven decades, they advocated for social justice and against slavery, protesting state-sanctioned and mob violence while demanding voting, legal, labor, and educational rights. Collectively, these essays highlight the vital role of the Colored Conventions in the lives of thousands of early organizers, including many of the most famous writers, ministers, politicians, and entrepreneurs in the long history of Black activism"--

While other writers contemplated the events of the 1968 Chicago riots from the safety of their hotel rooms, John Schultz was in the city streets, being threatened by police, choking on tear gas, and listening to all the rage, fear, and confusion around him. The result, No One Was Killed, is his account of the contradictions and chaos of convention week, the adrenalin, the sense of drama and history, and how the mainstream press was getting it all wrong. "A more valuable factual record of events than the city’s white paper, the Walker Report, and Theodore B. White’s Making of a President combined."—Book Week "As a reporter making distinctions between Yippie, hippie, New Leftist, McCarthyite, police, and National Guard, Schultz is perceptive; he excels in describing such diverse personalities as Julian Bond and Eugene McCarthy."—Library Journal "High on my short list of true, lasting, inspired evocations of those whacked-out days when the country was fighting a phantasmagorical war (with real corpses), and police under orders were beating up demonstrators who looked at them funny."—Todd Gitlin, from the foreword

Connecting with Constituents explores speeches delivered at national nominating conventions from historic, strategic, and analytic perspectives. Focusing on the strategies speakers use to appeal to particular facets of the American audience, this book illustrates the importance of nominating conventions as part of an ongoing national conversation about the political character of the country and its people. The individual chapters focus on different types of convention orations, including keynote speeches, acceptance addresses by presidential and vice presidential nominees, orations by the candidates’ wives, and addresses by other surrogate speakers. Each chapter provides a brief history of a particular type of oration, an explication of speakers, speeches, and contexts from the RNC and DNC between 1980 and 2008, and an in-depth comparative analysis of 2012 Republican and Democratic speeches. The book demonstrates how candidates and those speaking on their behalf employ strategies (such as telling personal stories, using jokes, offering intraparty appeals, acclaiming accomplishments, and framing the opponent in particular ways) to alter how citizens build, or fail to build, personal connections with the speakers, the parties, and their nominees. These analyses reveal more than simply how speakers and speechwriters persuade audience members; they show how would-be leaders view their potential constituents. They also highlight key social, historical, and political changes in the nation. Connecting with Constituents blends historic anecdotes, excerpts from numerous speeches, and insights from political communication studies in a manner that engages the interests of anyone seeking to understand the relationship between political candidates, their speeches, and the people they wish to lead.