Fortress America, Elaine Tyler May
Fortress America, Elaine Tyler May
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Fortress America
How We Embraced Fear and Abandoned Democracy

Author: Elaine Tyler May

Narrator: Kevin Stillwell

Unabridged: 7 hr 47 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 12/12/2017

Includes: Bonus Material Bonus Material Included

Synopsis

An award-winning historian argues that America's obsession with security imperils our democracy in this "compelling" portrait of cultural anxiety (Mary L. Dudziak, author of War Time).

For the last sixty years, fear has seeped into every area of American life: Americans own more guns than citizens of any other country, sequester themselves in gated communities, and retreat from public spaces. And yet, crime rates have plummeted, making life in America safer than ever. Why, then, are Americans so afraid-and where does this fear lead to?

In this remarkable work of social history, Elaine Tyler May demonstrates how our obsession with security has made citizens fear each other and distrust the government, making America less safe and less democratic. Fortress America charts the rise of a muscular national culture, undercutting the common good. Instead of a thriving democracy of engaged citizens, we have become a paranoid, bunkered, militarized, and divided vigilante nation.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Greg on February 14, 2018

As a voracious student of history, and of newspapers and magazines, there is honestly little in this work that was new or surprising to me. Most of what she discusses in her book has been noted elsewhere, albeit usually in a more fragmented, partial manner. Professor May's account does us the favor o......more

Goodreads review by Jarrod on December 17, 2019

May's main thesis that, as the title states, America's embracing of fear and abandoning democracy developed as a result of the Cold War does not track with a larger view of American history. Fear has been ever-present in America long before nukes and reds became part of the national parlance: Southe......more

Goodreads review by Chris on January 21, 2018

I read this because I thought quite highly of May's book "Homeward Bound." That book gave some original and insightful analysis of how the Cold War affected domestic life and family relations during the mid-20th century. This book, alas, did not strike me as very insightful. I thought it's points we......more

Goodreads review by Gregg on September 02, 2018

In America, fear is a bankable commodity. It supports business, politics, the arts, and whole cultural movements. If you want to capture people’s attention, give them a reason to be afraid. Once it has been established, fear is extremely durable. As Elaine Tyler May demonstrates in her scathing book......more

Goodreads review by Remy on July 27, 2020

May presents a number of arguments and tenuous connections without really supporting the claims. It's taken as granted that SUV ownership and mentality has a direct tie to Atomic Age fears of nuclear attack. This feels like a logical stretch, but hey, maybe there's something there. Unfortunately, Fo......more

Quotes

"May...traces how a growing preoccupation with vigilance and safety shaped American culture and prompted millions of people to invest in 'security measures that did not make them any safe.'"—New Republic

"If you feel shockingly high anxiety these days, and wonder why it got this way, Elaine Tyler May's Fortress America: How We Embraced Fear and Abandoned Democracy offers some answer...[May] puts much of the blame on an axis of anxiety including politicians, big media and entertainment, and an array of profiteers ranging from gun makers to security firms."—Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"Elaine Tyler May...explores how the United States got to this point of paranoia and how Americans made themselves prisoners in a world where security precaution is not just an industry but a lifestyle.... The irony that May captures is that Americans have more to fear now than they ever have: they are just fretting over the wrong things."—Australian Book Review

"May... argues that the pervasive dread of the Cold War never really ended but metastasized into the American consciousness, particularly fear of cities and racial conflict."—Public Books

"This thoroughly researched and thoughtfully written social history is recommended to all who seek to understand our divided society."—Library Journal

"A must-read for anyone seeking to understand the anxieties that occupy American politics."—Publishers Weekly

"In making a solid case for our country's overinvestment in personal and national security, May asks a germane question: are we focusing on the right threats?"—Kirkus Reviews

American Scholar
"[May's] style is brisk and catholic, and no cultural artifact is too minute to catch her eye. The effect is like watching one gem of cultural trivia after another shaken loose from an ephemeral recent past."

"Challenging and provocative, Fortress America will stir stimulating debate in the classroom and in the living room about the state of America in the post-World War II world."
—William Chafe, Alice Mary Baldwin Professor, emeritus, Duke University; former president, Organization of American Historians

"America founded itself on the principles of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but for much of the last century, it has been increasingly seized by fear, suspicion, and anxiety. Elaine Tyler May has provided a lucid, accessible, and sweeping account of this national nervous breakdown. With acute intelligence and supple prose, she separates distortion from reality, fever dream from waking truth."—SamuelFreedman, professor, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism

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