A01=Derek J. Thiess
American imperialism
American mythology
apologetics
appropriation
Author_Derek J. Thiess
Blackbeard
capitalism
Category=JBFK
Category=JBGB
Category=NHK
Christian apology
Christian nationalism
Christianity
colonialism
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
fantasy
folktale
Franklin Expedition
Horatio Alger
imperialism
John Henry
legend
Mo'olelo Nalu
myth
myth of redemptive violence
mythology
piracy
pirate
pull yourself up by your bootstraps
redemptive violence
religion
science fiction
surfing
Violence
white supremacy
Product details
- ISBN 9780299355104
- Weight: 399g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 02 Dec 2025
- Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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American Fantastic challenges readers to recognize an organizing myth in America’s perception of its imperialist past, “the myth of redemptive violence.” Derek J. Thiess persuasively argues that this myth serves to obscure the deep thread of Christian supremacy that underwrites America’s colonial and imperial impulses, from the early colonial period to westward expansion to the contemporary global order. This American imaginary, which enmeshes religion with violence, is constructed in multiple contentious and productive contact zones: between genres, between cultures, and between past and present.
Thiess’s interdisciplinary study examines America’s past and present imperial projects, from the Hawaiian Islands to the Eastern Seaboard, as they proliferate in popular story forms. By interrogating American myths, legends, and fantastic narratives across an impressive array of genres, including folk narratives, science fiction, movies, and more, Thiess exposes how the “myth of redemptive violence” manifests in contemporary constructions of America’s fantastic imaginaries.
Thiess’s interdisciplinary study examines America’s past and present imperial projects, from the Hawaiian Islands to the Eastern Seaboard, as they proliferate in popular story forms. By interrogating American myths, legends, and fantastic narratives across an impressive array of genres, including folk narratives, science fiction, movies, and more, Thiess exposes how the “myth of redemptive violence” manifests in contemporary constructions of America’s fantastic imaginaries.
Derek J. Thiess is an associate professor of English at the University of North Georgia. He is the author of Sport and Monstrosity in Science Fiction; Embodying Gender and Age in Speculative Fiction: A Biopsychosocial Approach; and Relativism, Alternate History, and the Forgetful Reader: Reading Science Fiction and Historiography.
