9/11
911
A01=Melani McAlister
abu ghraib
afghani women
afghanistan
al qaeda
Author_Melani McAlister
Category=JBCC
Category=NHG
Category=NHK
counterterrorism
cultural studies
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
ethnic studies
fireman
first responders
foreign policy
government policy
imperialism
iraq war
isis
islam
media
middle east
military
new york
nonfiction
oil
orientalism
osama bin laden
politics
popular culture
race
religion
religious extremism
religious fundamentalism
saddam hussein
social justice
sociology
terrorism
terrorist
us foreign relations
war
war on terror
world history
world trade center
Product details
- ISBN 9780520244993
- Weight: 590g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 05 Jul 2005
- Publisher: University of California Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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"Epic Encounters" examines how popular culture has shaped the ways Americans define their 'interests' in the Middle East. In this innovative book - now brought up-to-date to include 9/11 and the Iraq war - Melani McAlister argues that U.S. foreign policy, while grounded in material and military realities, is also developed in a cultural context. American understandings of the region are framed by narratives that draw on religious belief, news media accounts, and popular culture. This remarkable and pathbreaking book skillfully weaves lively and accessible readings of film, media, and music with a rigorous analysis of U.S. foreign policy, race politics, and religious history. The new chapter, titled "9/11 and After: Snapshots on the Road to Empire," considers and brilliantly analyzes five images that have become iconic: New York City firemen raising the American flag out of the rubble of the World Trade Center, the televised image of Osama bin-Laden, Afghani women in burqas, the statue of Saddam Hussein being toppled in Baghdad, and the hooded and wired prisoner in Abu Ghraib.
McAlister's singular achievement is to illuminate the contexts of these five images both at the time they were taken and as they relate to current events, an accomplishment all the more remarkable since - to paraphrase her new preface - we are today struggling to look backward at something that is still rushing ahead.
Melani McAlister is Associate Professor of American Studies and International Affairs at The George Washington University.
