Allegories Of A Never Ending War

The attacks to the World Trade Center and Pentagon on September 11, 2001 brought serious consequences for the daily lives of Americans even to date. Although the literature on 9/11 and the resulted War on Terror abounds, less attention was paid to the daily effects of 9/11 in Western culture. To fill this gap, the present book, which is formed by different authored chapters, not only focuses on deciphering the nature and historical evolution of terrorism but also its consequences on the capitalist system. Starting from the premise that 9/11 is destroying the Western democracies from the inside, authors who have contributed to this editorial project shed light on the inconsistencies and ideological limitations of terrorism-research today. In this respect, the book infers the thesis that terrorism has affected one of the cultural touchstones of Western civilization: the sacred law of hospitality.The Islamophobia, the recent white supremacist manifestations, and the adoption of high technology to surveillance (or spy) the private life of citizens, without mentioning the tightening of border checks are clear signs that terrorism is gradually and partly isolating the US from the rest of the world. This book intends to discuss to what extent terrorism is mining democracy internally. We have invited authors from different countries and cultures to participate, some of them even non-English native speakers. This would be very well a limitation since speaking in a foreign language is almost difficult, but to my end, this is the tug of war of the book. Still further, an edited book contains interesting debates, which need to be properly organized by the editor, given the discrepancies among the authors ́ ideologies. For that, we have disposed from an introductory and concluding chapter to review the common-thread argumentation--chapter by chapter. Last but not least, each author not only gave a multicultural perspective on the problem but a particular diagnosis of how terrorism is discussed, imagined and internalized in different countries. These chapters interrogate further on the dominant discourse revolving around terrorism, Jihadism and 9/11. We hope this book helps to clearly expand the current understanding of terrorism and its effects in the Western culture.

Allegories of Violence demilitarizes the concept of war and asks what would happen if we understood war as discursive via late 20th Century novels of war.

While the COVID-19 pandemic overshadowed all else and would quickly have a lasting impact on our daily lives, other events related to the radical right in 2020 soon surfaced. From terrorist attacks in Germany and India to anti-mask protests across the U.S. and Europe, radical right violence escalated in the midst of circulating conspiracy theories and disinformation. The yearbook draws upon insightful analyses from an international network of scholars, policymakers, and practitioners who explore the dynamics and impact of the radical right. It explores a wide range of topics including reflections on authoritarianism and fascism, the role of ideology and (counter-)intellectuals, and radical-right responses to the pandemic and calls for police reform in the height of the Black Lives Matter protests. It ends with important assessments on best approaches towards countering the radical right, both online and offline. This timely overview provides a broad examination of the global radical right in 2020, which will be useful for scholars, students, policymakers, journalists, and the public.

Drawing on social science and communications theory, Gonzo Governance offers a new interpretation of presidential power that shifts focus to the media dynamics that surrounded Donald Trump. The former president’s unhinged behavior and skilled media and digital manipulations changed the nature and process of significant governance at the federal and state levels, including denying election results and restricting voting opportunities. He went "Gonzo" – promoting himself without regard for conventional norms and practices – and blasted ideological fault lines into explosive political fragments, resulting in so much dissensus that numerous legislators would not recognize the newly elected President Biden, nor would they agree to take a potential life-saving vaccine because it had been associated with a politicized virus, COVID-19. Nurtured by media logic and a communications ecology that has wedded people to digital technologies and formats that govern the structure, grammar, form, expectations, and meanings of messages that can entertain, enlighten, and disinform, this form of governance alters the fundamental way that information is communicated. David L. Altheide emphasizes how these changes informed Donald Trump’s electoral strategies as well as the insurrection attempt on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

This book presents full history of the origin of Orwell’s Animal Farm, as well as a translation of the Russuian/Ukranian source work. Has George Orwell lost his saintly luster? In The Never End, rabble-rouser, dogged investigator, and consummate literary stylist John Reed collects two decades of subject-Orwell findings previously published in Pank, Guernica, Literary Hub, The Brooklyn Rail, The Rumpus, The New York Press, The Believer, Harper’s Magazine and The Paris Review. Reed’s treatment of Orwell is corrective and peerlessly contemporary; he views Orwell in a twenty-first century global context, considering Orwell’s collaboration with Cold War intelligence operations—US and UK—with unfaltering objectivity. It’s hard to imagine that Orwell—in our own moment of global doublethink—wouldn’t have wanted his devotion to contrariety applied to the literary legacy he left behind. The Never End is at once a hatchet job and a celebration. Animal Farm, based on a previously unknown Russian short story? Animal Farm, deployed by the CIA, MI6 and the Congress for Cultural Freedom? Orwell, turning over blacklists in a McCarthy-esque act of betrayal? The Cold War? Does it last forever? Russia, the “Axis of Evil,” and now China? But. Orwell. Course syllabi. Literary laurels. Snitch. Why do we keep coming back? For the wrong reasons? Or because we know Old Benjamin would want us to know the truth?

Allegories of Dissent, the first book devoted to the literature of Agustin Gomez-Arcos, is a case study of the relationship between art and oppression. It positions his theater in relation to the historical trajectories of twentieth-century Spanish and European drama, and in so doing, traces the allegorical strategies and thematic transformations that emerge in his work during the course of his radical move from censored artist to bilingual exile. Gomez-Arcos's threefold experience with censorship, exile, and bilingualism has left a lasting imprint on his literary production. As he embarks on an artistic journey from censored playwright living in dictatorial Spain to bilingual exile writer residing in democratic France, his gradual employment of the French language comes to allegorize his quest for freedom of expression.

A sort of nebulous sad thing happening forever and ever : childhood socialization to the Vietnam War -- Why couldn't I fight in a nice, simpler war? : comic books and Mad magazine -- Who bombed Santa's workshop? : militarizing play with commercial war toys -- One of the most agonizing years of my life : knowing someone in Vietnam -- Mom tried to make it for us like he wasn't even gone : father separation and reunion -- God bless dad wherever you are : POW/MIA -- How come the flags around town aren't flying at half-mast? : Gold Star children -- Yes, I am My Lai, but My Lai is better than Viet Cong! : Vietnamese adoptees and Amerasians.