BOOK REVIEW Ruth Wodak: The Discourse of Politics in Action: Politics as Usual Palgrave MacMillan, Basingstoke, 2009, vii 1 252 pp, Hb $60.18, ISBN: 978-0-230-01881-6 Ruth Harman Received: 20 June 2009 / Accepted: 22 June 2009 / Published online: 9 July 2009 Ó Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009 Politics and media have become intertwined in unprecedented ways in recent years. Well-known politicians are often treated as celebrities in the media with their private lives subjected to the same prurient scrutiny as rock stars or actors; fictionalized versions of political life such as The West Wing or Yes Minister 1 often generate more public interest than real-life politics. Alongside this ‘‘fictionalization of politics,’’ disenchantment with the democratic process has steadily increased in Europe and elsewhere. Recent elections to the 736-seat European Parliament, for example, generated the lowest turnout in its electoral history. In her powerful new book about the discourse of politics, Ruth Wodak uses an interdisciplinary theoretical framework to address some of these issues. She explores the discursive and social practices of members of the European Parliament (EP) and contrasts their everyday lives with sensationalized representations of politicians in the media. Her purpose in writing the book, which draws from 15 years of ethnographic, policy, and discourse analysis of EU institutions, is to ‘‘throw light on the discursive construction and representation of politics in action’’ (p. 23). She sees this demystification as potentially serving as a first step in reducing the so-called ‘democratic deficit’ in Europe. In her first chapter, Wodak explains key theoretical constructs that guide her research. She uses Goffman (1959) to articulate how politicians construct and are constructed by backstage and frontstage identities. In other words, politicians need to transition frequently from a very carefully orchestrated use of setting, appearance, and discourse that realizes a particular dramatic and consistent effect in public R. Harman (&) Language and Literacy Department, University of Georgia, 125 Aderhold Hall, 30062 Athens, GA, Greece e-mail: rharman@uga.edu 1 The West Wing is an American television serial drama set in the White House. Yes Minister, a British show, is set in the office of a cabinet minister in Whitehall. 123 Lang Policy (2009) 8:323–325 DOI 10.1007/s10993-009-9143-x