What Changed When Everything Changed

9/11 and the Making of National Identity

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Political Science, International, International Security, Government, Democracy, History, Americas, United States
Cover of the book What Changed When Everything Changed by Joseph Margulies, Yale University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Joseph Margulies ISBN: 9780300195200
Publisher: Yale University Press Publication: May 21, 2013
Imprint: Yale University Press Language: English
Author: Joseph Margulies
ISBN: 9780300195200
Publisher: Yale University Press
Publication: May 21, 2013
Imprint: Yale University Press
Language: English

Beautifully written and carefully reasoned, this bold and provocative work upends the conventional wisdom about the American reaction to crisis. Margulies demonstrates that for key elements of the post-9/11 landscape—especially support for counterterror policies like torture and hostility to Islam—American identity is not only darker than it was before September 11, 2001, but substantially more repressive than it was immediately after the attacks. These repressive attitudes, Margulies shows us, have taken hold even as the terrorist threat has diminished significantly. 

Contrary to what is widely imagined, at the moment of greatest perceived threat, when the fear of another attack “hung over the country like a shroud,” favorable attitudes toward Muslims and Islam were at record highs, and the suggestion that America should torture was denounced in the public square. Only much later did it become socially acceptable to favor “enhanced interrogation” and exhibit clear anti-Muslim prejudice. Margulies accounts for this unexpected turn and explains what it means to the nation’s identity as it moves beyond 9/11. We express our values in the same language, but that language can hide profound differences and radical changes in what we actually believe. “National identity,” he writes, “is not fixed, it is made.”

Beautifully written and carefully reasoned, this bold and provocative work upends the conventional wisdom about the American reaction to crisis. Margulies demonstrates that for key elements of the post-9/11 landscape—especially support for counterterror policies like torture and hostility to Islam—American identity is not only darker than it was before September 11, 2001, but substantially more repressive than it was immediately after the attacks. These repressive attitudes, Margulies shows us, have taken hold even as the terrorist threat has diminished significantly. 

Contrary to what is widely imagined, at the moment of greatest perceived threat, when the fear of another attack “hung over the country like a shroud,” favorable attitudes toward Muslims and Islam were at record highs, and the suggestion that America should torture was denounced in the public square. Only much later did it become socially acceptable to favor “enhanced interrogation” and exhibit clear anti-Muslim prejudice. Margulies accounts for this unexpected turn and explains what it means to the nation’s identity as it moves beyond 9/11. We express our values in the same language, but that language can hide profound differences and radical changes in what we actually believe. “National identity,” he writes, “is not fixed, it is made.”

More books from Yale University Press

Cover of the book Innovation Economics by Joseph Margulies
Cover of the book Riddle of the Feathered Dragons: Hidden Birds of China by Joseph Margulies
Cover of the book Global Crisis by Joseph Margulies
Cover of the book The Dance Claimed Me: A Biography of Pearl Primus by Joseph Margulies
Cover of the book Rome and Rhetoric: Shakespeare's Julius Caesar by Joseph Margulies
Cover of the book The Terror Courts by Joseph Margulies
Cover of the book Eternity's Sunrise by Joseph Margulies
Cover of the book Mindful Tech by Joseph Margulies
Cover of the book The Genius by Joseph Margulies
Cover of the book The Cherokee Diaspora by Joseph Margulies
Cover of the book Family Romance, Family Secrets by Joseph Margulies
Cover of the book Minds Make Societies by Joseph Margulies
Cover of the book Franz Liszt by Joseph Margulies
Cover of the book Stalin's Wars: From World War to Cold War, 1939-1953 by Joseph Margulies
Cover of the book A Restatement of Religion by Joseph Margulies
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy