A master of contentious politics, Sidney Tarrow’s new book The Language of Contention (Cambridge University Press, August 2013), examines how politics can’t be understood without grasping how – symbolically and strategically – words stigmatize, valorize, divide, unite and inspire political actors and action.

Join us for a Chats in the Stacks book talk with Sidney Tarrow, the Maxwell M. Upson Professor Emeritus of Government and visiting professor at Cornell’s Law School. Glenn Altschuler, dean of the School of Continuing Education and Summer Sessions and the Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Professor of American Studies, and Jason Frank, associate professor and director of graduate studies in the Department of Government will join Tarrow. They will discuss the development of the language of social movements, strikes, revolutions, and terrorism from the seventeenth century to the present and explore the changes since 9/11, and how social media and technology have altered today’s political communications.

Tarrow’s recent books include Strangers at the Gates: States and Social Movements in Contentious Politics (Cambridge University Press, 2012) and Power In Movement (Cambridge, 2011), a standard text for students in political science and sociology.

Light refreshments will be available throughout the event, and books will be available for purchase and signing.