Blogging America: Political Discourse in a Digital Nation

by Barbara O'Brien

A journalist whose career was rekindled by her blog (Web log) makes the case that blogging is facilitating US political debate. O'Brien traces the phenomenon's growth and views the "blogosphere" from the right and left sides of the political divide. She presents notable blogs on Bush's 2004 State of the Union speech, gay marriage, blogs' impact on the media and politics, and other hot topics, and includes a glossary. Not indexed. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Barbara Hoetsu O'Brien grew up in the Ozark Mountain section of the Bible Belt, also called the Land of Perpetual Holy Spirit Gospel Tabernacle Revivals. Doubts pulled her away from Christianity, however, and after much stumbling around in many traditions she became a formal student of Zen Buddhism in the late 1980s. As a journalist she has written extensively about religion in America and how it impacts politics and culture. From 2008 to 2016 she was the resident expert on Buddhism for About.com, and she blogs about whatever is on her mind at her personal blog, The Mahablog (mahablog.com).