Winner of the 2014 Doris Graber Award, given by the American Political Science Association to recognize the best book published on political communication in the last ten years. Political campaigns today are won or lost in the so-called ground war--the strategic deployment of teams of staffers, volunteers, and paid part-timers who work the phones and canvass block by block, house by house, voter by voter. Ground Wars provides an in-depth ethnographic portrait of two such campaigns, New Jersey Democrat Linda Stender's and that of Democratic Congressman Jim Himes of Connecticut, who both ran for Congress in 2008. Rasmus Kleis Nielsen examines how American political operatives use "personalized political communication" to engage with the electorate, and weighs the implications of ground war tactics for how we understand political campaigns and what it means to participate in them. He shows how ground wars are waged using resources well beyond those of a given candidate and their staff. These include allied interest groups and civic associations, party-provided technical infrastructures that utilize large databases with detailed individual-level information for targeting voters, and armies of dedicated volunteers and paid part-timers. Nielsen challenges the notion that political communication in America must be tightly scripted, controlled, and conducted by a select coterie of professionals. Yet he also quashes the romantic idea that canvassing is a purer form of grassroots politics. In today's political ground wars, Nielsen demonstrates, even the most ordinary-seeming volunteer knocking at your door is backed up by high-tech targeting technologies and party expertise. Ground Wars reveals how personalized political communication is profoundly influencing electoral outcomes and transforming American democracy. "This book is a revelation. It forces us to think hard about campaigns and in a new way. ... What is more, it could not have had this effect but for its ethnographic method." Professor Richard Johnston - Political Communication "Through a meticulously detailed, and at times quite humorous, ethnographic narrative, Nielsen reveals the emotional labor and the technological, political, and financial assemblages that pool together for a few months to fight in the "ground wars" ... Nielsen's book is essential reading." Mary F. E. Ebeling - Contemporary Sociology "A gripping read. Well researched, insightful and full of wonderful snapshots drawn from observations made during the research. If you really want to understand campaigning, this is the book to read." Darren G. Lilliker - Politics, PR & Marketing "Ground Wars by Rasmus Kleis Nielsen is an essential new bible for political campaigns locked in the everlasting battle that has become modern American politics." Benjamin Kallos - FireDogLake "If the medium is the message, Nielsen shows that a key medium in campaigns is person-to-person communication. His sharp analysis and careful ethnographic storytelling reveal both the high level strategic role and the human experience of personalized political communication in contemporary elections." ―W. Lance Bennett, University of Washington "Having embedded himself with the grunts in the political trenches of two ordinary congressional elections, Nielsen demonstrates how elections involve the selling of democracy to an often reluctant or uninterested public. Ground Wars is a sterling example of political ethnography." ―Herbert J. Gans, former president of the American Sociological Association "Nielsen provides a trenchant and thought-provoking account of what campaigns look like at ground level. His ethnography offers a rare glimpse into what canvassing and phone banking mean to those who try to reach vast numbers of voters in the run-up to Election Day. This book is a welcome companion to more abstract, quantitative studies of campaigns and elections." ―Donald P. Green, Columbia University "Nielsen presents a very compelling analysis of an often-neglected aspect of modern electoral campaigns. He challenges the idea that political communication must be tightly controlled and scripted, correctly arguing that personalized, labor-intensive communication prone to individual inflection and enthusiasm represents American democracy in action. Ground Wars is an important and timely book." ―Dennis W. Johnson, author of No Place for Amateurs: How Political Consultants Are Reshaping American Democracy "This is an excellent book that offers unique analysis and insights into an emerging key dimension of electoral campaigning: personalized political communication―that is, communication to voters in person either at the door or on the phone. This book contributes to political science in novel and decisive ways. Ground Wars is a pleasure to read." ―Florence Faucher-King, Sciences Po, Paris "If the medium is the message, Nielsen shows that a key medium in campaigns is person-to-person communicatio