Dangerous innocence : white men, mass culture, and the southern outsider's appeal, 1960-2020 / William P. Murray.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Murray, William P., author.

Series:

Southern literary studies.

Southern Literary Studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

American literature--Southern States--History and criticism.

American literature.

American literature--20th century--History and criticism.

White people--Race identity--United States.

White people.

Group identity--United States--History--20th century.

Group identity.

Southern States--In literature.

Southern States.

Southern States--In motion pictures.

Southern States--In popular culture.

Southern States--Civilization.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (218 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Baton Rouge, Louisiana : Louisiana State University Press, [2024]

Summary:

Dangerous Innocence investigates how prevailing constructions of white masculinity in the U.S. South help feed and reinforce systems of racial inequity. Tracing the rise of the "southern outsider" in literature and on television from 1960 to 2020, William P. Murray probes white Americans' enduring desire to assert their own blamelessness even though such acts of self-justification facilitate continued violence against historically oppressed populations. Dangerous Innocence courses from popular television such as The Andy Griffith Show and The Waltons through influential fiction by Eudora Welty, Walker Percy, and other prominent southern authors-alongside forceful challenges voiced by Black writers including Chester Himes and Ernest Gaines-before turning to works created after the September 11 attacks that reinscribe cultural logics predicated on protecting white innocence and power. Concluding on a note of praxis, Dangerous Innocence argues that reattaching southern outsiders to a communal identity encourages an honest assessment about what whiteness represents and what it means to belong to a nation steeped in commitments to white supremacy.

Contents:

Desiring Dixie: television and the rise of the White Southern outsider

Switching the patient: White Southern doctors and their perscriptions

Seeing the lynching ropes: the rejection of White postmodern innocence

Searching for innocence: the age of terror and the outsider's return to community

Building on new foundations: the search for something different

Conclusion: embracing crosshatched histories: a new kind of memory.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

Includes index.

ISBN:

9780807182130

0807182133

9780807182123

0807182125

OCLC:

1407033140