Michael J. Lee is a professor of Communication and the director of the Civility Initiative  at the College of Charleston. He teaches and researches in political communication with a focus on political identity in American politics.  His work has earned over a dozen awards including five national book awards for his first book, Creating Conservatism: Postwar Words that Made an American Movement. His latest book is We Are Not One People: Separatism and Secession in American Politics Since 1776.