Renowned cultural theorist reveals the deeper meanings of popular cultural phenomena in post-9/11 life in America.

The intellectual atmosphere in america following the event known as 9/11 was such that opinion deviating from the officially sanctioned narrative of good vs. evil was actively discouraged, the majority of the media toeing President Bush’s war-mongering line. Thus it was left largely to European philosophers such as Jean Baudrillard, Paul Virilio, and Slavoj Zizek to think through the international consequences of this era-defining moment. However, behind the official smoke screen, certain American intellectuals maintained a critical distance from the propaganda and sought to understand the forces at work within US society.

In this perceptive work, Susan Willis examines a series of phenomena peculiar to post-9/11 America, including the Washington, DC snipers, the Stars ’n’ Stripes fever, and the anthrax hoaxes, arguing that even minor or seemingly aberrant cultural manifestations bear interpretation and reveal meaning which is inherently inimical to officially promulgated versions of the current climate of fear. As a “primer,” this is an ambitious project that seeks to lay the ground for a renaissance of critical thought in America.

“America is in popular culture genre hyperdrive, churning out formulaic fictions in a frenzied attempt to determine who we are and what we’re doing. Our historical moment is like a cineplex where every genre is playing simultaneously.?”
…from the Introduction


Susan Willis’s previous works include A Primer for Daily Life, Signifying, and Inside the Mouse. She is Associate Professor of Literature at Duke University.

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