Fixed Ideas: America Since 9.11
In times of national crisis, the public turns to such proven, clear-eyed observers of American society as Didion to place events within a historical and political context. But after September 11, those who initiated discussions regarding the causes of the tragedy were instantly branded as traitors as the White House simultaneously launched the war on terrorism and a public relations campaign that blatantly oversimplified the complex realities involved. A shrewd, seasoned, and superbly articulate interpreter of the machinations of American politics, particularly the art of spin, Didion concisely but precisely breaks down the rhetoric and media strategies of George W. Bush and company, identifying key "fixed ideas, or national pieties" that were marshaled "to stake new ground in old domestic wars" and bolster the administration's stand on everything from environmental laws to school prayer to the war in Iraq, which, Didion reminds readers, has actually been on the agenda since the Reagan administration. First published in theNew York Review of Books, this is an essential work of clarity in a time of obfuscation.Donna SeamanCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved