Dedaić, Mirjana N. & Daniel N. Nelson (eds.),
At war with words. New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 2003. Pp. 479,
Hb. $94.00.
Silberstein, Sandra, War of words: Language, politics and
9/11. New York: Routledge, 2002. Pp. 224, Hb. $69.95, pb.
$16.95.
Daniel Nelson writes that “we talk our way into war and talk our
way out of it” (Dedaić & Nelson [henceforth
DN], p. 449). Drawing on a diverse array of methodological and
theoretical perspectives and an equally wide range of subject matters,
Mirjana Dedaić and Daniel Nelson's edited volume on the role
of language in war, and the effects of war on language, is a sprawling,
perhaps unwieldy collection that opens up a number of important avenues of
investigation in this gravely important but as yet undefined field of
study. Sandra Silberstein focuses her book much more narrowly on the
language of politics and news media in the wake of the September 11
tragedy. Despite their differences, both books address similar themes: (i)
declaring war, or the language used by political leaders to justify
military action; (ii) propaganda, or the construction of a war narrative
by the media, and the use of political discourse to divide populations;
(iii) language politics, or how wars shape language policy; and (iv)
controlling speech, or the language used to grant or deny legitimacy in
political debates. With the exception of language politics, not touched on
by Silberstein, these themes are addressed equally by both books.