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alexandrarhurst's review against another edition
2.0
Had some good ideas and stories, but seemed overly anecdotal and sensationalized.
quixoticreader13's review against another edition
4.0
While I find the issue of captivity narratives fascinating, I wasn't as interested in that section of the book. Faludi's insight into contemporary attitudes about sex and gender roles was insightful, but the claim that contemporary sexism is rooted in early cultural myths seems like a problematic claim.
lesleynr's review against another edition
3.0
I loved the first part of the book where she describes the gendered media/cultural responses to the 9/11 attacks and the subsequent war in Afghanistan. In the second part of hte book, she traces the "American" cultural response to the Indian captivity narratives that were popular in 18th century Puritan colonies and later U.S. This part was not as interesting to me... so, I'm putting the book down.
maricat82's review against another edition
4.0
i just bought this after reading an interview with faludi in the current issue of bitch magazine.
alisarae's review against another edition
5.0
"When we respond to real threats to our nation by distracting ourselves with imagined threats to femininity and family life ... when we blame our frailty on fifth-column feminists, in short, when we base our security on a mythical male strength that can only measure itself against a mythical female weakness, we should know that we are exhibiting the symptoms of a lethal, albeit curable, cultural affliction. Our reflexive reaction to 9/11, fantastical weirdly disconnected from the very real emergency at hand, exposed a counterfeit belief system. It reprised a bogus security drill that divided men from women and mobilized them to the defense of a myth instead of to the defense of a country."
Going into this book, I thought it would be more widely about broader cultural shifts post-9/11, but actually it's about a very specific reflexive return to delicate femininity and brawny manliness spearheaded by mainstream media that happened immediately, as in hours, after the attacks on the Twin Towers.
It sounds bizarre, but Faludi brings receipts. The first 75% of the book is quote after quote after quote from articles, talk shows, news reports, blogs, and broadcasts about women getting the marriage itch, a coming baby boom, women "opting out" of the workplace to prioritize family, stories of rescued women, etc etc that is in nearly all cases wildly stretched, isolated incidents, anonymous sources, or completely fabricated, against protests from the quite real women at the heart of the stories. It is, in short, shocking.
The last 25% of the book is a look back at different periods in American history where the same narrative structure (strong man rescues weak woman) came up, again with receipts that scrape away the layers of myth: King George's War (which I know as the French-Indian War), Westward Expansion, early 20th Century (iconized with Birth of a Nation), and the Cold War era.
Faludi did not touch on contemporary religion at all, and I would have liked to see that element included. I suppose that would be an entire book in itself. American Christianity is such a fundamental pillar to upholding these mythical structures, and it is sad how many well-meaning acquaintances of mine don't even realize when they are defending an idol.
Going into this book, I thought it would be more widely about broader cultural shifts post-9/11, but actually it's about a very specific reflexive return to delicate femininity and brawny manliness spearheaded by mainstream media that happened immediately, as in hours, after the attacks on the Twin Towers.
It sounds bizarre, but Faludi brings receipts. The first 75% of the book is quote after quote after quote from articles, talk shows, news reports, blogs, and broadcasts about women getting the marriage itch, a coming baby boom, women "opting out" of the workplace to prioritize family, stories of rescued women, etc etc that is in nearly all cases wildly stretched, isolated incidents, anonymous sources, or completely fabricated, against protests from the quite real women at the heart of the stories. It is, in short, shocking.
The last 25% of the book is a look back at different periods in American history where the same narrative structure (strong man rescues weak woman) came up, again with receipts that scrape away the layers of myth: King George's War (which I know as the French-Indian War), Westward Expansion, early 20th Century (iconized with Birth of a Nation), and the Cold War era.
Faludi did not touch on contemporary religion at all, and I would have liked to see that element included. I suppose that would be an entire book in itself. American Christianity is such a fundamental pillar to upholding these mythical structures, and it is sad how many well-meaning acquaintances of mine don't even realize when they are defending an idol.
eelsmac's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.25
I vacillated on how to rate this because it's really great information, and Faludi definitely approaches the topic from a truly unique angle that I think is critical in many of the right ways, BUT I don't know how effective Faludi was at tracing back the historical patterns of social imagination. Like I agree and it totally tracks (and I've read quite a bit about some of the patterns of narratives that she describes) but I think if a reader did not have a strong academic background in anthropology, sociology, art history, women's or gender studies, or a related field, then I think certain sections would be more confusing and difficult to follow. I just think there could have been more art in how Faludi wove in the information about historical patterns/narratives to make those transitions easier for the reader to follow, maybe some editing to make everything a bit more concise (there are portions that feel very repetitive - and while I do advocate that academics write in ways that are more accessible to the public at large, repetition is not always necessary), and I would also say this book could use some intermittent explanations for some of the jargon.
That being said, in a field of books about 9/11/terrorism/Global War on Terror there are a lot of books that read the same, and Faludi approaches the subject at an angle that I think is truly different so it really stands out. I think because I was a kid I wasn't necessarily cognizant of the different narratives that were expressed throughout news and entertainment media and so some of the details that Faludi highlights are simultaneously resonant, jarring and eye-opening. Also having read this in 2023, post-2020 election bafoonery with Rudi Giuliani, the portions about Giuliani really just hit different. Having double checked the publish date, I sort of wish there was an updated version since the Global War on Terror and a lot of the public rhetoric/imagination/narratives have persisted and shifted and changed as both Afghanistan and Iraq proved to be intractable quagmires. But I would say in capturing some of the more prominent narratives and their subtext, Faludi does much better and is far more critical of 9/11 as a cultural and psychosocial event, than a lot of the dime a dozen works that focus on the failures within American bureaucracy and policy leading up the 9/11 and in the strategies applied to the Global War on Terror (I don't say this to cheapen those works, but that particular lane is a bit crowded).
That being said, in a field of books about 9/11/terrorism/Global War on Terror there are a lot of books that read the same, and Faludi approaches the subject at an angle that I think is truly different so it really stands out. I think because I was a kid I wasn't necessarily cognizant of the different narratives that were expressed throughout news and entertainment media and so some of the details that Faludi highlights are simultaneously resonant, jarring and eye-opening. Also having read this in 2023, post-2020 election bafoonery with Rudi Giuliani, the portions about Giuliani really just hit different. Having double checked the publish date, I sort of wish there was an updated version since the Global War on Terror and a lot of the public rhetoric/imagination/narratives have persisted and shifted and changed as both Afghanistan and Iraq proved to be intractable quagmires. But I would say in capturing some of the more prominent narratives and their subtext, Faludi does much better and is far more critical of 9/11 as a cultural and psychosocial event, than a lot of the dime a dozen works that focus on the failures within American bureaucracy and policy leading up the 9/11 and in the strategies applied to the Global War on Terror (I don't say this to cheapen those works, but that particular lane is a bit crowded).
annakmeyer's review against another edition
3.0
I kind of skimmed and gave up on it at the end there. Probably because I was trying to read it on loud trains.
photopoppy's review against another edition
4.0
I'm still reading this one, but I had a hard time putting it down. It's downright depressing in places, the way advertisers push to sell an image of cheerful housewify-ness when that's simply not reality, and the number of people who buy into it and start telling themselves it's the way things *should* be. A good read, but expect to gnash your teeth some!
iammandyellen's review against another edition
3.0
actually, i bought this as an audio book because it was in a bargain bin, tho now i'm longing for a hard copy. faludi is such a master of research. of course her insight is utterly appetizing, but her research is staggering. buying one of her books is like buying into a database. it's historical real estate.
mslibrarynerd's review against another edition
5.0
Susan Faludi takes on the conservative bastards in the media and shows us how quickly it abandons years of feminism in order to cling to our mythological cowboy beginnings.