The relationship between politics and storytelling is one with a well-established lineage, but public policy analysis has only recently begun to develop its own appreciation of the power of narrative to explain everything from political traditions to cyberspace. This unique collection of original essays helps further that project by surveying stories of and about all kinds of American politics—from welfare, race, and immigration; to workfare, jobs, and education; to gay rights, national security, and the American Dream in an age of economic globalization.

Contributions by: Joel Best, Barbara Cruikshank, Donald R. Culverson, R Scott Daniels, Gerard Fergerson, Jonathan Goldberg-Hiller, Charles R. Green, Joseph Kling, Gary Krueger, Ruthanne Kurth-Schai, Phillip T. Neisser, Lawrence Nitz, Joseph Peschek, Frances Fox Piven, Miriam B. Rosenthal, Phillip H. Sandro, Michael J. Shapiro, Carl Swidorski, Leslie J. Vaughan, John Kenneth White