Winner of the Doris Graber Award, American Political Science Association, 2013

Democracy is, by its very nature, often rude. But there are limits to how uncivil we should be. In the 2010 edition of Rude Democracy, Susan Herbst explored the ways we discuss public policy, how we treat each other as we do, and how we can create a more civil national culture. She used the examples of Sarah Palin and Barack Obama to illustrate her case. She also examined how young people come to form their own attitudes about civility and political argument. In a new preface for this 2020 paperback edition, the author connects her book to our current highly contentious politics and what it means for the future of democratic argument.

Acknowledgements 
New Preface for 2020
1. The Powerful-if Elusive-Nature of Civility 
2. Sarah Palin and Her Publics 
3. Barack Obama, Difference, and Civility 
4. Our Future Leaders: College Students and Political Argument 
5. Conclusion: Civility, Communication, and a Culture of Argument 
Appendix I: Transcript of President Barack Obama's Commencement Address, University of Notre Dame, May 17, 2009 
Appendix II: University System of Georgia Survey on Student Speech and Discussion 
Notes 
Bibliography 
Index

Susan Herbst is Professor of Political Science and President Emeritus at the University of Connecticut. She is author of many books and articles on American politics including Numbered Voices: How Opinion Polling Has Shaped American Politics, Politics at the Margin: Historical Studies of Public Expression outside the Mainstream and Reading Public Opinion: How Political Actors View the Democratic Process. Previously, she was Chief Academic Officer for the University System of Georgia, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Temple University, and Chair of the Department of Political Science at Northwestern University.