Prison area, independence valley : American paradoxes in political life and popular culture / Rob Kroes.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kroes, Rob, author.

Series:

Re-mapping the transnational

Re-mapping the transnational : a Dartmouth series in American studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Civilization.

United States--Civilization--21st century.

United States.

Political culture--United States.

Political culture.

Popular culture--United States.

Popular culture.

United States--Politics and government--2001-2009.

Politics and government.

United States--Politics and government--2009-.

Political science.

Physical Description:

xii, 193 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Hanover, New Hampshire : Dartmouth College Press, [2015]

Summary:

A major voice in transnational American studies addresses politics and culture in post-9/11 America, The study of prisons brought Tocqueville to America. For Rob Kroes, one of Europe's most distinguished authorities on contemporary American culture, it was rather the other way around. Deep knowledge of American culture brought Kroes to America and face to face with signs, Tocquevillian in their portent, that invited motorists to exit from Interstate 80 in Nevada toward a place called Independence Valley and to keep their eyes open for a "Prison Area." In this collection of essays, Kroes invites us to take these two signs seriously for their capacity to deepen our insights into America's cultural contradictions. The author's fascination with the myriad ways in which America changes face, from hard power to soft, from uses of force to the power of entertainment, always holding the attention of publics across the globe, is what ties his work together. Book jacket.

Contents:

The George W. Bush administration and European anti-Americanism

The ascent of the falling man : an iconic image of 9/11

Cool hand luck : how America played its hand entertaining the world

Musical America : staging the U.S.A. to the sounds of music

A spaghetti southern : landscapes of fear in Quentin Tarantino's Django unchained

Freaks on display : a tale of empathy and ostracism

American responses to the Holocaust : atrocity photographs as nomadic objects

Barack Hussein Obama : two portrait sketches

Obama and the paradox of American global power : dreams of democracy and the imperial imperative

Taking exception.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781611687293

1611687292

9781611687309

1611687306

OCLC:

894931652