Book Review: The Terror Dream

It took us a little bit of time to get comfortable with the title of this book--just because we didn't want to re-read another account of that day--so we waited to read it.

But it turns out we shouldn't have waited.

This book is no rehash of 9/11.

It is a fascinating work about big media's reaction to 9/11, and the bizarre ways in which the media--and the U.S. government--called for the reinstatement of traditional "masculinity" in order to defend our country from terror.

"When the viciously misogynist al Qaeda attacked America, the mainstream media responded, strangely enough, with a call for a revival of manly men, frail females, and traditional domesticity. In The Terror Dream, our premiere cultural reporter exposes the Backlash and offers a fascinating explanation of why 9/11 led to such a perverse retreat from our own values. This is a book that had to be written, and only Susan Faludi could do it so brilliantly and engrossingly." --Barbara Ehrenreich

"In this bold and courageous book, Susan Faludi peels away the veneer of post-9/11 bravado to expose our collective national psyche, bringing us face to face with our nation's innermost fears and fantasies. The Terror Dream unmasks the Lone Rangers running our nation and their loyal media Tontos who hark back to a mythic frontier where men were men and women were victims. -- Elaine Tyler May

"An important contribution to our understanding of the cultural and political reaction to 9/11, which shows how deeply ingrained beliefs about masculinity, femininity and sanctified violence have shaped our national identity, and our ways of responding to crisis." -- Richard Slotkin

From susanfaludi.com:

Why, she asks, did an assault on American global dominance provoke an almost hysterical summons to restore "traditional" manhood, marriage, and maternity? Why did our media react as if the hijackers had targeted not a commercial and military edifice but the family home and nursery? Why did an attack fueled by hatred of Western emancipation lead to a regressive fixation on Doris Day womanhood and John Wayne masculinity, with trembling-lipped "security moms," swaggering presidential gunslingers, and the "rescue" of a female soldier compulsively recast as a "helpless little girl"?

We heard Ms. Faludi interviewed on Democracy Now! a little while back. She presented some very compelling arguments, and asked some difficult questions. The Terror Dream is a great read.