American Fear: The Causes and Consequences of High Anxiety

by Stearns; Peter N.

• ISBN13: 9780415955409
• ISBN10: 0415955408
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-10-05
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

A small town in Maryland installed surveillance cameras on the town hall, paid for by the Department of Homeland Security. The state of Kentucky received a similar grant to protect bingo parlors from attack, and the city of Grand Forks, North Dakota deployed a $145,000 bomb-dismantling robot against a backpack left by vagrants under a pine tree, which turned out to contain nothing more than bricks. These are just a few examples of American responses to fear in the post-9/11 world. In American Fear, Peter Stearns argues that controlling fear has become a significant problem in American society. Examining how Americans have traditionally coped with and managed their anxieties in the past, and how the media, businesses, and the government have historically used fear to manipulate the consumers and the public, Stearns shows how and why distinctive American fears have emerged over the past several decades. American Fear adds a vital new dimension to existing studies of fear by examining therelationship between fear and American foreign policy, and the recent response by policymakers to address what has become one of the dominant emotions in contemporary American public life.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	vii
Preface	ix
PART I ESTABLISHING THE CAUSE FOR FEAR EXCESS	1	(52)
Chapter 1 Introducing Fear	3	(18)
Chapter 2 The Distinctiveness of American Fear	21	(32)
PART II CAUSES AND CONTEXTS	53	(38)
Chapter 3 Searching for Causes	55	(8)
Chapter 4 The Roots of American Fear: Traditions	63	(12)
Chapter 5 From Science Fiction to Real Death: New Contexts for Fear	75	(16)
PART III THE DECISIVE CHANGES: REDEFINING FEAR AND RISK IN LIFE AND IN MEDIA	91	(70)
Chapter 6 Fearing Fear: A New Socialization	93	(22)
Chapter 7 New Approaches To Risk: Lawyers and Bicycle Helmets	115	(26)
Chapter 8 Self-Scaring and Advertising: The Commerce Factor	141	(20)
PART IV THE EXHAUSTION OF WAR	161	(38)
Chapter 9 At Your Own Risk	163	(6)
Chapter 10 A Deluge of Crises: Foreign Fears in the Past Century	169	(30)
PART V CONSEQUENCES AND REMEDIES	199	(26)
Chapter 11 Conclusion: The Lessons of American Fear	201	(24)
Endnotes	225	(14)
Index	239