Political Scandal and American Pop Culture: Sex, Power, and Cover-Ups

​This book provides a newer definition of political scandal and applies it in a way to remove ＂ordinary corruption＂ from the discussion. It then defines pop culture and examines how scandal and pop culture interact. The discussion addresses the question: when does a scandal actually enter into our pop culture. The mechanisms or vehicles by which this occurs include editorial cartoons, Broadway shows, music, movies, television, and more. The first chapter lays out the two main definitions and gives a bit of historical background to the discussion that follows. This new edition builds on the previous book with analysis of January 6th, George Santos, allegations of election fraud, and Rudy Giuliani.

This book works well as a supplement in a course on American Government, in American Studies, and is aimed at a wide range of readers from college freshmen to more advanced scholars and political junkies.

Jim Twombly is Professor Emeritus of American Politics at Elmira College, USA. He is the author of The Progression of the American Presidency: Individuals, Empire, and Change (Palgrave Macmillan 2013), as well as five other books, a number of journal articles, book reviews, and conference papers. Dr. Twombly is also a political analyst on WENY-TV in Elmira.