Angel patriots : the crash of United Flight 93 and the myth of America / Alexander T. Riley.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Riley, Alexander, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United Airlines Flight 93 Hijacking Incident, 2001.

Terrorism--Social aspects--United States.

Terrorism.

Memorialization--United States.

Memorialization.

Myth--Social aspects.

Myth.

Social aspects.

Terrorism--Social aspects.

United States.

Physical Description:

viii, 317 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

New York ; London : New York University Press, [2015]

Summary:

When United Flight 93, the fourth plane hijacked in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, the gash it left in the ground became a national site of mourning. The flight's forty passengers became a media obsession, and countless books, movies, and articles told the tale of their heroic fight to band together and sacrifice their lives to stop Flight 93 from becoming a weapon of terror. In Angel Patriots, Alexander T. Riley argues that by memorializing these individuals as patriots, we have woven them into a much larger story of our nation-an existing web of narratives about what it means to be truly American. The attack on Flight 93, then, became a symbolic attack on Americanness itself. Weaving a detailed narrative, Riley explores the crash's cultural impact: the spontaneous memorial efforts that blossomed in Shanksville immediately after news of the crash spread; the ad hoc sites honoring the victims that emerged, such as a temporary memorial close to the crash site and a Flight 93 Chapel created by a local priest; and finally, the creation of an official, permanent crash monument like those built for past American wars. A profound and thought-provoking study Angel Patriots unveils how, in the wake of 9/11, America mourned much more than the loss of life. Book jacket.

Contents:

Flight 93 and 9/11: American mythology in the making

Death, horror, and culture: making sense of the senseless in memorials

The sacralization of Shanksville: the emergence of the temporary memorial site

Flag bodies: commemoration in the Flight 93 Memorial Chapel

The permanent memorial: symbolic work and conflict in the "bowl of embrace"

The cultural narratives of the books on Flight 93

The cultural narratives of the films on Flight 93

Myth in practice: visitors at the temporary memorial site

What flight 93 tells us about America.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781479870479

1479870471

9781479868452

1479868450

OCLC:

893452218