Character Assassination and Reputation Management

Price: $64.99 - $51.99
(as of Dec 02, 2025 21:01:16 UTC – Details)

This lively book offers the first comprehensive examination of character assassination. In modern politics as well as in historical times, character attacks abound. Words and images, like psychological weapons, have sullied or destroyed numerous individual reputations. How does character assassination “work” and when or why does it not? Are character attacks getting worse in the age of social media? Why do many people fail when they are under character attack? How should they prevent attacks and defend against them?

Moving beyond discussions about corporate reputation management and public relations canons, Character Assassination and Reputation Management is designed to help understand, critically analyze, and effectively defend against such attacks. Written by an international and interdisciplinary team of experts, the book begins with a discussion of theoretical and applied features of the “five pillars” of character assassination: (1) the attacker, (2) the target, (3) the media, (4) the audience, and (5) the context. The remaining chapters present engaging in-depth discussions and case studies suitable for homework and class discussion. These cases include:

Historic figuresLeaders from modern timesWomen in politicsU.S. presidentsWorld leadersPolitical autocratsDemocratic leadersScientistsCelebrities

Featuring an extensive glossary of key terms, critical thinking exercises, and summaries to encourage problem-based learning, Character Assassination and Reputation Management will prove invaluable to the undergraduate and postgraduate students in communication, political science, global affairs, history, sociology, and psychology departments.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Routledge
Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 17, 2021
Edition ‏ : ‎ 1st
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Print length ‏ : ‎ 282 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1138609188
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1138609181
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.25 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.01 x 0.64 x 10 inches
Best Sellers Rank: #3,192,866 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #583 in Political Reference #6,161 in Political Philosophy (Books) #7,274 in Philosophy (Books)
Customer Reviews: 5.0 5.0 out of 5 stars 4 ratings var dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction; P.when(‘A’, ‘ready’).execute(function(A) { if (dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction !== true) { dpAcrHasRegisteredArcLinkClickAction = true; A.declarative( ‘acrLink-click-metrics’, ‘click’, { “allowLinkDefault”: true }, function (event) { if (window.ue) { ue.count(“acrLinkClickCount”, (ue.count(“acrLinkClickCount”) || 0) + 1); } } ); } }); P.when(‘A’, ‘cf’).execute(function(A) { A.declarative(‘acrStarsLink-click-metrics’, ‘click’, { “allowLinkDefault” : true }, function(event){ if(window.ue) { ue.count(“acrStarsLinkWithPopoverClickCount”, (ue.count(“acrStarsLinkWithPopoverClickCount”) || 0) + 1); } }); });