Preface to the English-Language Edition
Introduction: The Magic of Narrative, or, the Art of Telling Stories
The Storytelling Revival—Narrative as Instrument of Control—“Stories That Really Tell Us What America Can and Should Be About”—A Worrying Proliferation
Brands in Crisis—Beneath the Swoosh, the Sweatshops—What’s in a Name?—The Brand is a Story—The “Narrative World” of Brands—The Dream Society
2The Invention of Storytelling Management
A Story For Our Times—The Silence of the Start-Ups—A History of Silence—“Don’t Keep Quiet: Tell Stories”—Management Theorists and the “Narrative Turn”—Telling Stories About Work—The Magical Fables of Capitalism’s Gurus—Gurus, Purveyors of Managerial Fashion—Shakespeare on Management
India’s Call Centers and the Globalization of Minds—The Souls of the Outsourced—The “Fictionalization” of Workplace Relations—Emotional Capitalism’s New Authority Model—Fictions About Companies or Fictional Companies—The Destructuring Effects of the Apologia for Permanent Change—Storytelling’s Response
4The Mutant Companies of New-Age Capitalism
Managing Removals at Renault—Computer-Assisted Storytelling—“Storytelling Companies”—Enron: A Fabulous Story From Wall Street—Stories: The Financial Manager’s Best Currency
5Turning Politics Into a Story
Ashley’s Story—A 9/11 Family—“They Produce a Narrative, We Produce a Litany”—Power Through Narrative—The Great Communicator Reagan, and his Disciples Clinton and Sarkozy—Postmodern Presidents—Watergate and the Coming of the Spin Doctors—Creating a Counter-Reality—Scheherazade’s Strategy
Virtual Warfare in Baghdad—From Cold War to Fake War—The Issue of “Realism”—“Do We Have the Right Story?”—The “Story Drive” Project—“Weapons of Mass Distraction”—War: A Counter-Narrative—Hollywood and the Pentagon Work Together—24: Fiction Normalizes States of Emergency
“We’re An Empire … And We Create Our Own Reality”—From Propaganda to Infotainment—Fox News: A Mutation in the History of the Media—The Lie Industry—A Magician at Headquarters—From Uncle Ben’s to Uncle Sam—Storytelling as Propaganda—“Fire in the Mind”
Stories Degree Xerox—Hillary Clinton’s “Cojones”—Sister Sarah and Sexy Palin—Obama’s Magic Square—Politics’ “Second Life”—Obama’s Narrator—The Politics of Signs—A Strategist Appeals to the American Unconscious