This book approaches contemporary fiction as a medium for policy advocacy, one whose narrative devices both link it to, and distinguish it from, other forms of public discourse. Using the framework of political agenda setting, David A. Rochefort analyzes the rhetorical function of problem definition played by literary works when they document and characterize social issues while sounding the call for systemic reform. Focusing on a group of noteworthy realist novels by American authors over the past twenty years, this study maintains that fictional narrative is a potentially influential instrument of "empathic policy argument." The book closes by examining the agenda-setting dynamics through which a social problem novel can contribute to the process of policy change.

Introduction: Telling the Story of Systemic Failure

Part I: Theoretical Considerations

1. The System as Panacea, Uncertain Promise, and Scourge

2. Narrative and Its Political Uses

Part II: Four Social Problem Novels

3. Health Care, But at What Cost?

4. Falling into the Cracks of Our Mental Health (Non)System

5. How Deep the Despair of Life in the Precariat

6. Justice Denied

Part III: Conclusion

7. Empathic Policy Argument, Agenda Setting, and the Culture Wars

Appendix A: A Partial Listing of Social Problem Novels since 2000

Notes
Index