Holy War
Cowboys, Indians, and 9/11s
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- $27.99
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- $27.99
Publisher Description
Noam Chomsky and George W. Bush seldom agree, but they both argued that 9/11 stood alone in American history. Although the use of airplanes as weapons of mass destruction was new, Holy War demonstrates that America's response to the attack followed a legendary pattern as old as the Republic itself.
"Holy War is a timely reminder of how Americans, for centuries, have understood their wars of aggression as ultimately justified and fundamentally innocent." Boyd Cothran, author of Remembering the Modoc War
"Captivatingly written, highly accessible and engaging, this book makes a major contribution to scholarship on 9/11 by drawing parallels between these events and America's role in previous conflicts. More so, it illuminates the connection between a legacy of racist images of Native Americans in popular culture and the use of that imagery to justify American imperialistic intervention." Matthew Tegelberg, MediaClimate, York University
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This provocative psychohistorical reflection on post-9/11 America posits that U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are merely the latest in a lengthy history of military engagements with which the perpetually traumatized nation regenerates itself through acts of violence that replicate frontier tropes. By exploring landmark moments in the U.S war against Mexico, the Marines' occupation of Nicaragua, the invasion of Vietnam, and the Reagan presidency, the book shows the European civilizer/savage narrative repeatedly recreated with different names and faces. Anderson, whose 2007 Cowboy Imperialism and Hollywood Film mines similar territory, meticulously illustrates how the interplay of mass media, government manipulation, and a complacent community of mainstream historians perpetuates the frontier myth of America as innocent victim, slow to anger, and reluctantly compelled to battle to defend its divine mission. Delivered with a confident, authoritative voice, the text can drift from heavily academic to downright colloquial, an unfortunate tonal inconsistency that may undermine some of its excellent arguments. But Anderson's persuasive contentions that the U.S. is always in need of an enemy (like some say God requires Satan) and trauma demands repetition is well supported by documentation explaining why peace is an exceptional state for the world's most powerful country.
