Americanist Dinner Forum: Faith, Hollywood, and Presidential Rhetoric

One week before the election, join AMCS for our second Zoom-based Americanist Dinner Forum of the fall semester: "Faith, Hollywood, and Presidential Rhetoric in the 2020 Election.” This roundtable discussion will feature Professor Kathryn Brownell, Purdue University, who is the Editor of the Washington Post “Made by History” and author of  Showbiz Politics: Hollywood in American Political Life, in conversation with Washington University Professors Wayne Fields, author of Union of Words: A History of Presidential Eloquence; and Abram Van Engen, author of City on a Hill: A History of American Exceptionalism to discuss how Hollywood celebrity, presidential rhetoric, and American Exceptionalism have shaped the 2020 Presidential election and beyond. The event will be moderated by AMCS Director Professor Lerone Martin.  The conversation will be followed by Q &A with our audience.  

Kathryn Cramer Brownell is associate professor of history at Purdue University and an editor at Made By History at the Washington Post.   Her research and teaching focus on the intersections between media, politics, and popular culture, with a particular emphasis on the American presidency.  Her first book, Showbiz Politics: Hollywood in American Political Life (University of North Carolina Press, 2014), examines the institutionalization of entertainment styles and structures in American politics and the rise of the celebrity presidency.  She is now working on a new book project on the political history of cable television.

Wayne Fields is the Lynne Cooper Harvey Chair Emeritus of English, American Literature and American Culture Studies, and a noted author and expert on American presidential rhetoric and political argument. He is the author of Union of Words: A History of Presidential Eloquence.

Abram C. Van Engen is Associate Professor of English at Washington University in St. Louis and the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics. He specializes in early American religion, literature, and culture, focusing on Puritanism, sentimentalism, and the history of emotion. His first book, Sympathetic Puritans: Calvinist Fellow Feeling in Early New England, was published in spring 2015 with Oxford University Press. His second book, City on a Hill: A History of American Exceptionalism, was published in 2020 and draws religion and politics together in a biography of the 1630 Puritan sermon, A Model of Christian Charity—the sermon modern politicians cite when they refer to America as a “city on a hill.” 

This event is free and open to the public. To receive the webinar link please REGISTER HERE.