Robert L. Heath is a retired Professor of Communication at the University of Houston. He edited the Handbook of Public Relations and more recently the Encyclopedia of Public Relations. He also co-edited Responding to Crisis with Dan Millar. He has engaged in risk communication studies since the early 1990s, primarily related to the relationship between chemical manufacturing complexes and near neighbors.

H. Dan O'Hair is Dean of the College of Communications and Information Studies at the University of Kentucky. He has published over ninety research articles and scholarly chapters in risk and health communication, public relations, business communication, media management, and psychology journals and volumes, and has authored and edited fifteen books in the areas of communication, risk management, health, and terrorism.

Section One: Exploring the Reach of Crisis and Risk Communication

Chapter 1: The Significance of Risk and Crisis Communication, Robert L. Heath & Dan O'Hair Chapter 2: Historical Trends in Risk and Crisis Communication, Michael J. Palenchar

Chapter 3: Cultural Theory and Risk, James Tansey and Steve Rayner

Chapter 4: Risk Communication: Insights and Requirements for Designing Successful Communication Programs on Health and Environmental Hazards, Ortwin Renn

Chapter 5: Conceptualizing Crisis Communication, W. Timothy Coombs

Chapter 6: The Precautionary Principle and Risk Communication, Steve McGuire and Jaye Ellis

Section Two: Key Constructs in Risk and Crisis Communication

Chapter 7: Strategies for Overcoming Challenges to Risk Communication, Vincent Covello

Chapter 8: Risk Communication Education for Local Emergency Manager: Using the CAUSE Model for Research, Education, and Outreach, Kathy Rowen, Carl Botan, Gary Kreps, Sergi Samoilenko, and Karen Farnsworth.

Chapter 9: Risk and Social Dramaturgy, Ingar Palmlund

Chapter 10: Myths and Maxims of Risk and Crisis Communication, Peter A. Anderson and Brian H. Spitzberg

Chapter 11: The Ecological Perspective and Other Ways to (Re)Consider Cultural Factors in Risk Communication, Linda Aldoory

Chapter 12: Science Literary and Risk Analysis: Relationship to the Postmodernist Critique, Conservative Christian Activists, and Professional Obfuscators, Mike Ryan

Chapter 13: Influence Theories: Rhetorical, Persuasion, and Informational, Jeff Springston, Elizabeth Johnson Avery, and Lynne M. Sallot

Chapter 14: Raising the Alarm and Calming Fears: Perceived Threat and Efficacy During Risk and Crisis, Anthony J. Roberto, Catherine E. Goodall, and Kim Witte

Chapter 15: Crisis Response Communication, Image Restoration, and Apologia, Rob Ulmer, Matt Seeger et al.

Chapter 16: Risk Communication by Organizations: The Back Story, Caron Chess and Branden Johnson

Chapter 17: Ethical Responsibility and Guidelines for Management Issues of Risk and Risk Management, Shannon Bowen

Chapter 18: Linking Public Participation and Decision Making through Risk Communication, Katherine McComas, Joseph Arvai, and John C. Besley

Chapter 19: Warming Warnings: Global Challenges of Risk and Crisis Communication, David McKie and Christopher Galloway

Chapter 20: Risk, Crisis, and Mediated Communication, Kurt Neurwirth

Chapter 21: Crises and Risk in Cyberspace, Kirk Hallahan

Chapter 22: Virtual Risk: The Role of New Media in Violent and Nonviolent Ideological Groups, Matthew T. Allen, Amanda D. Angie, Josh L. Davis, Cristina L. Byrne, H. Dan O'Hair, Shane Connelly, and Michael D. Mumford

Chapter 23: Community Building through Communication Infrastructures, Robert L. Heath, Michael Palenchar, and Dan O'Hair

Section Three: Contexts of Crisis and Risk Communication

Chapter 24: Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication in Health Contexts: Applying the CDC Model to Pandemic Influenza, Matthew W. Seeger, Barbara Reynolds, and Timothy L. Sellnow

Chapter 25: How People Think about Cancer: A Mental Approach, Julie S. Down, Wandi Bruine de Bruin, Baruch Fischhoff, Bradford Hesse, and Ed Maibach

Chapter 26: Killing and Other Campus Violence: Restorative Enrichment of Risk and Crisis Communication, Cindi Atkinson, Courtney Vaughn, and Jami VanCamp

Chapter 27: Denial, Differentiation & Apology: On the Use of Apologia in Crisis Management, Keith Hearit and Kasie Mitchell Robeson

Chapter 28: Risk Communication and Biotechnology: A Discourse Perspective, Shirley Leitch and Judy Motion

Chapter 29: Precautionary Principle and Biotechnology: Regulators Are from Mars and Activists Are from Venus, Stephanie Proutheau and Robert L. Heath

Chapter 30: Environmental Quality, Tarla Peterson and Jessica Leigh Thompson

Chapter 31: Knowing Terror: On the Epistemology and Rhetoric of Risk, Kevin J. Ayotte, H. Dan O'Hair, and Daniel Rex Bernard

Chapter 32: Magnifying Risk and Crisis: The Influence of Communication Technology on Contemporary Global Terrorism, Michael D. Bruce, Kristin Shamas, and Dan O'Hair

Chapter 33: Opportunity Knocks: Putting Communication Research into the Travel and Tourism Risk and Crisis Literature, Lynne M. Sallot, Jeffrey K. Springston, and Elizabeth Johnson Avery

The Handbook of Risk and Crisis Communication explores the scope and purpose of risk, and its counterpart, crisis, to facilitate the understanding of these issues from conceptual and strategic perspectives. With perspectives from psychology, sociology, anthropology, political science, economics, and communication, the Handbook of Risk and Crisis Communication enlarges the approach to defining and recognizing risk and how should it best be managed. It provides vital insights for all disciplines studying risk, including communication, public relations, business, and psychology, and will be required reading for scholars and researchers investigating risk and crisis in various contexts.