Politics Through a Looking-Glass

Book excerpt: Politics Through a Looking-Glass is a ground-breaking exploration of the connection between storytelling and politics. Author Eloise Buker examines how stories--both imaginative narratives and historical narratives--offer new ways of understanding social and political life. Basing her analysis on extensive field studies she conducted in two diverse political cultures--a rural working-class community in Hawaii and a suburban upper-middle class community in Ohio--Buker begins by developing a model for interpreting narratives which builds upon structural analysis and philosophical hermeneutics. She then applies her model to the interpretation of narratives from political leaders in the two different communities, arguing that stories are windows through which we gain insight into a community's experiences, values, struggles, and conflicts.