Dirty wars: landscape, power, and waste in western American literature
By: John Beck.
Series: Postwestern horizons
Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
Published: 2009
Place of publication: Lincoln
Language: eng
Number of pages: 366
ISBN-13: 9780803226319
Subjects: American literature -- West (U.S.) -- History and criticism; American literature -- 20th century -- History and criticism; Politics and literature -- United States -- History -- 20th century; Politics and culture -- United States -- History -- 20th century; War and literature; West (U.S.) -- In literature
Description: "Since World War II, the American West has become the nation's military arsenal, proving ground, and disposal site. ... [book title] explores how the region's iconic landscapes, invested with myths of national virtue, have obscured the West's crucial role in a post-World War II age of "permanent war." ... Throughout [book title], [author] identifies resonances between different experiences and representations of the West that allow us to think about internment policies, the manufacture of atomic weapons, the culture of Cold War security, border policing, and toxic pollution as part of a broader program of a sustained and invasive management of western space."--Book jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: dirty wars; title: The purloined landscape; title: The prehistory of the permanent war economy; title: Dust breeding: narratives of inter(n)ment; title: Learning from los Alamos; title: Gridlocked and homeless; title: Loomings: dread in west Texas; title: After nature: gothic contamination; title: After nature writing; title: The west as Cold War museum; title: The fringe of empire; title: Conclusion: endless war.