Divided by Terror

John Bodnar's previous works include books on public memory in twentieth-century America and on the historical memory of World War II. In his latest book, Bodnar examines the reaction of Americans to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and their aftermath. The author centers his analysis on the concept of patriotism, which he divides into two strands: “war-based” and “empathic” (p. 3). While this dichotomy seems deceptively simplistic on the surface, it serves as a powerful framing device in the narrative. In seven chapters, Bodnar examines different areas of cultural and political activity shaped by the memory of 9/11. While the book does not focus on high-level political decisions, these are discussed periodically to frame events. Most examples stem from the first decade of the twenty-first century. Immediately following the 9/11 attacks, much of the country fell into lockstep behind the war-based patriotism that President George W. Bush exemplified; still, there were dissenters, such as the parents of one victim, Greg Rodriguez, who opposed the use of their son's memory to launch a war in Afghanistan. For Bodnar, the 9/11 memorials embodied empathic patriotism, with its emphasis on feeling the pain of others, even as they often said little about the global war on terror and its impact

Aesthetics · Art · Feeling · Framing (construction · Literature · Media studies · Narrative · Patriotism · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Spanish Civil War · Terrorism · World War II · History · Law · Memory, Trauma, and Commemoration · Military History and Strategy · Psychology · Social Psychology