"Revisiting the racial origins of the conflict between
"civilization" and "savagery" in twentieth-century America"
The atomic age brought the Bomb and spawned stories of nuclear
apocalypse to remind us of impending doom. As Patrick Sharp
reveals, those stories had their origins well before Hiroshima,
reaching back to Charles Darwin and America's frontier.
In "Savage Perils," Sharp examines the racial underpinnings of
American culture, from the early industrial age to the Cold War. He
explores the influence of Darwinism, frontier nostalgia, and
literary modernism on the history and representations of nuclear
weaponry. Taking into account such factors as anthropological race
theory and Asian immigration, he charts the origins of a worldview
that continues to shape our culture and politics.
Sharp dissects Darwin's arguments regarding the struggle between
"civilization" and "savagery," theories that fueled future-war
stories ending in Anglo dominance in Britain and influenced
Turnerian visions of the frontier in America. Citing George W.
Bush's "Axis of Evil," Sharp argues that many Americans still
believe in the racially charged opposition between civilization and
savagery, and consider the possibility of nonwhite "savages"
gaining control of technology the biggest threat in the "war on
terror." His insightful book shows us that this conflict is but the
latest installment in an ongoing saga that has been at the heart of
American identity from the beginning--and that understanding it is
essential if we are to eradicate racist mythologies from American
life.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!