Prison Area, Independence Valley: American Paradoxes in Political Life and Popular Culture (Re-Mapping the Transnational: A Dartmouth Series in American) - Softcover

Kroes, Rob

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1611687306 ISBN 13: 9781611687309

Publisher: Dartmouth College Press, 2015

Synopsis

The study of prisons brought Tocqueville to America. For Rob Kroes, one of Europe's most distinguished authorities on contemporary American culture, it was rather the other way around. For Kroes, it was deep knowledge of American culture that brought him back to America and face to face with a couple of highway signs, Tocquevillian in their portent, that invited motorists to exit from Interstate 80 in Nevada toward a place called Independence Valley and to keep their eyes open for a "Prison Area." In this collection of essays, Kroes invites us to take these two signs seriously for their capacity to deepen our insights into America's cultural contradictions, especially how, after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, the US government's response altered the meaning of America for Americans and Europeans alike. The author's fascination with the myriad ways in which America changes face, from hard power to soft, from uses of force to the power of entertainment, but always holding the attention of publics across the globe, is what ties his work together. The essays here touch on diverse topics such as photography ("Falling Man" and Holocaust imagery), music (in Broadway and Hollywood musicals), film (Django Unchained), American exceptionalism (in an interesting counter to dog-eared dogma), and the difficulties of the first "white president of color." Like his predecessors, Tocqueville and Johan Huizinga, Kroes offers a clear-eyed assessment of America on the ground, love it or hate it. This readable and sharp-penned critique of America and American culture and power will appeal to Americanists across a broad swath of disciplines.

About this title

Review:

"These essays are both brilliant and provocative."--Richard Pells

"Rob Kroes, the most acute European analyst of contemporary American culture, offers deeply grounded reflections on American politics and culture."--Thomas Bender

"[Kroes] has been the vanguard of researchers who carefully trace the influence of weary popular American culture abroad, without subscribing to the idea that it is harmful or is cultural imperialism."--Thomas Bender "Vingtiéme Siécle"

"Kroes outlines a brilliant and diverse range of a wide range of subjects."--Thomas Bender "Atlantisch Perspectief"

About the Author:

Rob Kroes is professor emeritus of American studies at the University of Amsterdam, now also honorary professor at the University of Utrecht. One of Europe's leading American studies scholars, he is the author of numerous books and articles, including Photographic Memories: Private Pictures, Public Images, and American History.

About this edition

• Publisher: Dartmouth College Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1611687306
• ISBN 13: 9781611687309
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 208