Reviews for It Was Like a Fever: Storytelling in Protest and Politics

The average rating for It Was Like a Fever: Storytelling in Protest and Politics based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-03-04 00:00:00 Nikki Oconnor For the most part it felt like the theoretical contributions of this book were somewhat light and uninvolved - stories and narratives were often talked about in very general terms, rather than with any great specificity. That being said, the case studies examined were very interesting and the data used to draw some rather fascinating conclusions about the cultural use of narratives was really engaging. Polletta's style is very fluid and easy to read, which made the whole endeavor an enjoyable one, even as I felt at times that there could have been a bit more detail brough into the theoretical components of the book.

Review # 2 was written on 2019-05-05 00:00:00 Gregory Huber Mind blown! Polletta explores the use of storytelling and its devices in politics, protest, and the law, in order to tease out its many uses and abuses. Her book uses case study chapters to look at how stories mobilize people to political action, but also how they can reinforce assumptions based in existing power, gender, and racial structures. Once you get past the academic jargon, the book has so much to offer, especially at a time when we've come to understand how many evils a good story can cover up, even one with few words: "We're going to build a wall and Mexico is going to pay for it."