Facing Fear

by Strasser, Judith

• ISBN13: 9780976878193
• ISBN10: 0976878194
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-10-27
• Publisher: Borderland Books

Summary

After the presidential campaign and election in 2004, Judith Strasser set out to investigate the nature of fear and its widespread use as a political campaign strategy. After flying to Seattle to conduct research for her study of political fear, Strasser returned home to a diagnosis of stomach cancer.Facing Feartraces Strasserrs"s attempt to understand the nature of fear and anxiety and to regain control of a life threatened by a fatal disease. Part memoir, part journalism, and all heart, her book explores our biological and psychological responses to fearful events, examines the culture of fear in which we live, and suggests ways in which we, both as individuals and as members of a community, can overcome our anxieties and face our fears with courage and hope.

Author Biography

Judith Strasser is the author of a memoir, Black Eye: Escaping a Marriage, Writing a Life, and two poetry collections: The Reason/Unreason Project, which won the Lewis-Clark Press Expedition Award, and Sand Island Succession: Poems of the Apostles. Judith writes about life and health on her blog, In Lieu of Speech (www.inlieuofspeech.blogspot.com). She was formerly a senior producer and interviewer for To the Best of Our Knowledge, a nationally syndicated public radio show. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin.

Table of Contents

Introduction 9/11: Reason and Unreason

Making Sense of Fear

Terrorism 101

Responding to Terror

The Realm of Fear and Anxiety

The Goldmark Murders: The Politics of Paranoia

More Than a History Lesson

The Psychology of a Murderer

Vulnerability

Setting the Stage for Murder: Political Fear in the Fifties

Guilt by Association

The Goldmark Libels

Suing the Fear-Mongers

Echoes of Libel, Echoes of Fear

Uncertain Futures, Mortal Fears

Facing Diagnosis and Death

Anxiety or Fear?

Cancer Concerns

Anxiety and Reason, Unreason and Fear

Confronting Fear

Clear and Present Danger?

Pine Cones and Almonds: What Happens When We're Afraid

The Physiology of Fear and Anxiety

What the Science Can Tell Us

The Role of

the Amygdala

Flight, Fight, or Freeze?

Phobias, Anxiety, and PostTraumatic Stress

PTSD: No End to the Fear

Coping with Fear and Anxiety

Training for Danger

Is Training Necessary?

Quelling Anxiety

Reevaluating Risk

A Question of Control

Reason or Unreason?

Weaving the Fabric of Fear: Economics, Media, Politics

Nuclear Nerves: Facing Apocalypse

Fear Sells: Economics and the Fear du jour

Communicating Fear: The Media's Role

Fear and Politics

Types of Political Fear: Machiavelli, Hobbes, Montesquieu, and Tocqueville

Hannah Arendt and Modern Political Fear

Weaving the Fabric of Fear: Biology, Psychology, and Risk

Why We're Vulnerable: Fear in the Face of Death

Assessing Risk: No-one's Fully Rational

What Is to Be Done?

The Courage to Live with Fear

Living with Fear: Denial, Reason, Security, Faith

Finding Courage in Community: The Lesson of San Joseacute

de Apartado

Courage, Community, and Revenge: The Escape from Sobibor. Communal Courage in the United States: The Civil Rights Movement Epilogue "Fears of Your Life"

Facing Metastasis

Why I'm Not Afraid

Living with Courage and Hope Guidelines for Coping with Fear and Anxiety Sources

Selected Bibliography

Acknowledgments

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

“We are all going to die. The real question, the question basic to confronting our fears, is how are we going to live.”—from Facing Fear

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Excerpted from Facing Fear, Finding Courage by Judith Strasser
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.