The terrorist attacks on September 11th were unique and unprecedented in many ways, but the day will stand in our memories particularly because of our ability to watch the spectacle unfold. The blazing towers crumbling into dust, black smoke rising from the Pentagon, the unrecognizable remains of a fourth airplane in a quiet Pennsylvania field--these images, while disturbing and surreal, provide an important vehicle for interdisciplinary dialogue within media studies, showing us how horrific national disasters are depicted in various media. Each contributor to this volume offers a fresh, engaging perspective on how the media transformed the 9/11 crisis into an ideological tour de force, examining why certain readings of these events were preferred, and discussing the significance of those preferred meanings. Yet the contributors do not limit themselves to such standard news mediums such as newspapers and television. This anthology also covers comic books, songs, advertising, Web sites, and other non-traditional media outlets. Using a wide range of interdisciplinary approaches, contributors explore such topics as the amount of time dedicated to coverage, how the attacks were presented in the United States and abroad, how conflicting viewpoints were addressed, and how various artistic outlets dealt with the tragedy. Offering a unique approach to a topic of enduring interest and importance, this volume casts a new light on considerations of that day.

Contending that a "mythology of race" consisting of themes of sex and savagery exists in the United States and is perpetuated in popular culture, Frankie Y. Bailey identifies stereotypical images of blacks in crime and detective fiction and probes the implied values and collective fantasies found there. Out of the Woodpile is the first sociohistorical study of the evolution of black detectives and other African American characters in genre fiction. The volume's three divisions reflect the evolution of the status of African Americans in American society. The three chapters of the first section, "From Slaves to Servants," begin with a survey of the works of Poe and Twain in antebellum America, then discuss the depiction of blacks and other natives in British crime and detective fiction in the days of the British Empire, and lastly focus on American classics of the pre-World War II period. In "Urban Blues," Bailey continues her investigation of black stock characters by zeroing in on the denizens of the "Black Metropolis" and their "Black Rage." "Assimilating," the final section, contains chapters that scrutinize "The Detectives," "Black Lives: Post-War/Post Revolution," and the roles assigned to "Black Women." The results of survey questions carried in The Third Degree, the newsletter of the Mystery Writers of America, as well as the views of fourteen crime writers on the creation of black characters in genre fiction are followed by the "Directory," which includes a sampling of cases featuring black characters, a list of black detectives, relevant works of fiction, film, television, and more. The volume's informed analyses will be important reading for students and scholars in the fieldsof popular culture, American popular fiction, genre fiction, crime and detective fiction, and black and ethnic studies. It is also a timely resource for courses dealing with race relations and blacks in American literature or society.

This ambitious study examines the works of modern African American mystery writers within the social and historical contexts of African American literature on crime and justice. It begins with a historical overview that describes the movement by African American authors from slave narratives and antebellum newspapers into fiction writing, the work of early genre writers, such as Pauline Hopkins and Rudolph Fisher, the protest writers of the 1940s and 1950s, and the authors who followed in the 1960s. The historical section concludes with a discussion of works by late twentieth-century writers such as Toni Morrison and Ernest Gaines and the expansion of the audience for works by African American writers.The heart of the book is an analysis of works by modern African American mystery writers, focusing on sleuths, the social locations of crime, victims and offenders, the notion of 'doing justice', and the role of African American cultural vernacular in mystery fiction. A final section focuses on readers and reading, examining African American mystery writers access to the marketplace and the issue of the 'double audience' raised by earlier writers. It includes the results of an online survey of mystery readers and presents interviews with a cross-section of African American mystery writers and academic scholars.

Insurance investigator Hobart Lindsey and Homicide Detective Marvia Plum have been winning applause and building a loyal readership since their debut in The Comic-Book Killer (1988). Sometimes rivals, sometimes partners, sometimes lovers, Lindsey and Plum are a study in contrasts. He's white, gentle, and unassuming. She's black, tough, and street-smart. Their adventures have filled seven novels with an eighth on its way. Now they return in One Murder at a Time: the Casebook of Lindsey

Insurance investigator Hobart Lindsey and Homicide Detective Marvia Plum have been winning applause and building a loyal readership since their debut in The Comic-Book Killer (1988). Sometimes rivals, sometimes partners, sometimes lovers, Lindsey and Plum are a study in contrasts. He's white, gentle, and unassuming. She's black, tough, and street-smart. Their adventures have filled seven novels with an eighth on its way. Now they return in One Murder at a Time: the Casebook of Lindsey