UAH communications professor publishes new book on George W. Bush

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (January 31, 2012) — Clarke Rountree, Chair and Professor of Communication Arts at The University of Alabama in Huntsville, recently published the book, The Chameleon President - The Curious Case of George W. Bush.

Praeger Publishers (Greenwood Publishing Group) published the hardcover, 287-page book in December. The book provides readers with 11 different views of George W. Bush. Rountree also published George W. Bush: A Biography, in 2010.

“The book is a case study in how motives can be variously constructed, as well as a novel account of the life and presidency of George W. Bush.”

 “Instead of writing a traditional biography or a rhetorical analysis, I decided to engage in strategic constructions of motives myself, making the best case I could for 11 different views of Bush,” Rountree said.

Rountree wrote all the chapters, drawing material from dozens of books and hundreds of news stories, speeches, and editorials. “I don't tell readers which view I endorse and, after writing different chapters, I have found myself switching views back and forth,” he said.

Rountree’s research interests include judicial rhetoric, political rhetoric, Burkean rhetorical theory, argument theory, rhetoric and race, and religious discourse.

He received his undergraduate degree in political science from UAH, and earned graduate and Ph.D., degrees in rhetorical studies from the University of Iowa.

 Joyce Anderson-Maples
256.824.2101
 maplesj@uah.edu