Be Very Afraid: The Cultural Response to Terror, Pandemics, Environmental Devastation, Nuclear Annihilation, and Other Threats
Be Very Afraid: The Cultural Response to Terror, Pandemics, Environmental Devastation, Nuclear Annihilation, and Other Threats By Robert Wuthnow
Publisher: O.U,P 2010 | 304 Pages | ISBN: 0199730873 | PDF | 3 MB
Publisher: O.U,P 2010 | 304 Pages | ISBN: 0199730873 | PDF | 3 MB
Wuthnow (American Mythos) surveys the cultural response to the prospect of devastation, even annihilation in this provocative if uneven study. Relying on government reports, scientific studies, poll results, novels and films, and extensive interviews, the author examines the response of Americans to a series of apocalyptic threats since WWII: nuclear holocaust, pandemic influenza, terrorism, and global warming. He categorically dismisses suggestions that denial and immobilization have been the default responses of Americans facing disaster and argues instead that we have responded quite aggressively. The great outpouring of cultural activity in the face of these crises suggests our propensity to creatively search for solutions, not to be paralyzed by fear. But given their daunting scope and complexity, individual action has largely yielded to collective action, and these crises have essentially become institutionalized in large-scale organizations like the Department of Homeland Security. A solidly resourced, cogently analyzed, and persuasively argued brief.
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