Dissent from the Homeland

Essays on September 11

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Edited by Stanley Hauerwas and Frank Lentricchia

Duke University Press

Due/Published September 2002, 200 pages, paper

ISBN 0822365405

A Special Issue of South Atlantic Quarterly

Dissent from the Homeland begins a new evaluation of how Americans think about September 11, 2001. In this special issue well-known writers and scholars from across the humanities and social sciences take a critical look at U.S. domestic and foreign policies--past and present--as well the recent surge of patriotism. These dissenting voices provide an alternative to the apparently overwhelming public approval of the U.S. military response to the September 11 attacks, both at home and abroad.

Addressing such questions as why the Middle East harbors a deep-seated hatred for the U.S., the contributors refuse to settle for the easy answers often preferred by the mass media. "Thoughts in the Presence of Fear" urges Americans away from the pitfall of national self-righteousness toward an active peaceableness--an alert, informed, practiced state of being--deeply contrary to both passivity and war. Another essay argues that the U.S. drive to win the Cold War made the nation more like its enemies, leading the government to support ruthless anti-Communist tyrants such as Mobutu, Suharto, and Pinochet. "Groundzeroland" offers a commentary on the power of American consumer culture to absorb the devastation and loss of life by transforming the attack sites into patriotic tourist attractions. James Nachtwey's photo essay provides a visual document of the devastation of the attacks.Contributors: Michael Baxter, Jean Baudrillard, Robert Bellah, Daniel Berrington, Wendell Berry, Vincent Cornell, Stanley Hauerwas, Fredric Jameson, Frank Lentricchia, Catherine Lutz, Jody McAuliffe, John Milbank, James Nachtwey, Peter Ochs, Rowan Williams, Susan Willis, Slavoj Zizek