We, Us, and Them: Affect and American Nonfiction from Vietnam to Trump

"When Americans describe their compatriots, the members of their "imagined community" who share their heritage, values, and aspirations, who exactly are they talking about? This is the urgent question that Douglas Dowland asks in We, Us, and Them. In search of answers, he turns to narratives of American nationhood written since the Vietnam War-stories in which the ostensibly strong state of the Union has been turned increasingly into an America of us versus them. Dowland explores how a range of writers across the political spectrum, including Hunter S. Thompson, James Baldwin, and J. D. Vance, articulate a particular vision of America with such strong conviction that they undermine the unity of the country they claim to extol. We, Us, and Them pinpoints moments in which criticism leads to cynicism, rage leads to apathy, and a broad vision narrows"--

Author(s): Douglas Dowland
Published: 2024
Categories: LITERARY CRITICISM