List of Figures List of Tables Preface Martijn Icks and Eric Shiraev Introduction Martijn Icks and Eric Shiraev 1 Character Assassination: Bridging Psychology and History Eric Shiraev Ancient Rome 2 Character Attack and Invective Speech in the Roman Republic: Cicero as Target Henriette van der Blom 3 Reports about the 'Sex Life' of Early Roman Emperors: A Case of Character Assassination? Jan Meister 4 Creating Tyrants in Ancient Rome: Character Assassination and Imperial Investiture Martijn Icks Reflections: Ancient Rome Martijn Icks and Eric Shiraev The Middle Ages 5 Falsifying the Prophet: Muhammad at the Hands of His Earliest Christian Biographers in the West Kenneth Baxter Wolf 6 Louis of Orléans, Isabeau of Bavaria, and the Burgundian Propaganda Machine, 1392-1407 Tracy Adams 7 A Newcomer in Defamatory Propaganda: Youth (Late Fourteenth to Early Fifteenth Century) Gilles Lecuppre Reflections: Medieval Cases Martijn Icks and Eric Shiraev The Early Modern Age 8 The Ass in the Seat of St. Peter: Defamation of the Pope in Early Lutheran Flugschriften Bobbi Dykema 9 Odious and Vile Names: Political Character Assassination and Purging in the French Revolution Mette Harder 10 "As Awkward and Deficient as His Wife Is Amiable and Accomplished": The Character Assassination of the Dutch Statesman Rutger Jan Schimmelpenninck (1761-1825) Edwina Hagen Reflections: Early Modern Cases Martijn Icks and Eric Shiraev The Modern Age 11 Character Attacks and American Presidents Eric Shiraev and Jason Smart 12 The Gao-Rao Affair: A Case of Character Assassination in Chinese Politics in the 1950s Zi Yang and Eric Shiraev 13 Propaganda and Resistance: The Failed Character Assassination of Václav Havel in Communist Media Martina Klicperová-Baker 14 Women's Libbers and Lesbians: Character Assassination in the Phyllis Schlafly Report Jennifer Keohane 15 Political Cartoons as a Medium for Persuasive Attack: The Case of Governor Noem the Puppy Killer William L. Benoit and Sergei A. Samoilenko Reflections: Modern Cases Martijn Icks and Eric Shiraev Epilogue Martijn Icks and Eric Shiraev Index.