1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910812370103321

Autore

Clymer Jeffory A

Titolo

America's culture of terrorism : violence, capitalism, and the written word / / Jeffory A. Clymer

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Chapel Hill, : University of North Carolina Press, c2003

ISBN

979-88-908772-6-0

0-8078-6151-0

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (277 pages) : illustrations

Collana

Cultural studies of the United States

Disciplina

363.3/2/0973

Soggetti

Terrorism - United States - History

Violence - United States - History

Capitalism - United States - History

Mass media - United States - History

United States Social conditions

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 251-266) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Imagining terrorism in America -- Gendering the terrorist -- The United States of Terrorism -- This firm of men-killers -- Sabotage.

Sommario/riassunto

Although the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 shocked the world, America has confronted terrorism at home for well over a century. With the invention of dynamite in 1866, Americans began to worry about anonymous acts of mass violence in a way that differed from previous generations'fears of urban riots, slave uprisings, and mob violence. Focusing on the volatile period between the 1886 Haymarket bombing and the 1920 bombing outside J. P. Morgan's Wall Street office, Jeffory Clymer argues that economic and cultural displacements caused by the expansion of industrial capitalism directly influenced evolving ideas about terrorism.In America's Culture of Terrorism, Clymer uncovers the roots of American terrorism and its impact on American identity by exploring the literary works of Henry James, Ida B. Wells, Jack London, Thomas Dixon, and Covington Hall, as well as trial transcripts, media reports, and the cultural rhetoric surrounding terrorist acts of the day. He demonstrates that the rise of mass media and the pressures of the industrial wage-labor economy



both fueled the development of terrorism and shaped society's response to it. His analysis not only sheds new light on American literature and culture a century ago but also offers insights into the contemporary understanding of terrorism.