Research Catalog

Be very afraid the cultural response to terror, pandemics, environmental devastation, nuclear annihilation, and other threats

Title
Be very afraid [electronic resource] : the cultural response to terror, pandemics, environmental devastation, nuclear annihilation, and other threats / Robert Wuthnow.
Author
Wuthnow, Robert.
Publication
Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2010.

Available Online

  • Available from home with a valid library card
  • Available onsite at NYPL

Details

Description
1 online resource (294 p.)
Summary
Examines the human response to existential threats--once a matter for theology, but now looming before us in multiple forms. Nuclear weapons, pandemics, global warming: each threatens to destroy the planet, or at least to annihilate our species. Freud, Wuthnow notes, famously taught that the standard psychological response to an overwhelming danger is denial. In fact, Wuthnow argues, the opposite is true: we seek ways of positively meeting the threat, of doing something--anything--even if it's wasteful and time-consuming. It would be one thing if our responses were merely pointless, Wuthnow observes, but they can actually be harmful.--From publisher description.
Uniform Title
Be very afraid (Online)
Alternative Title
Be very afraid (Online)
Subject
  • Emergency management
  • Threats
  • Fear > Social aspects
  • Terrorism > Social aspects
  • Terrorism > Psychological aspects
  • Epidemics > Social aspects
  • Epidemics > Psychological aspects
  • Global warming > Social aspects
  • Global warming > Psychological aspects
  • Nuclear weapons > Social aspects
  • Nuclear weapons > Psychological aspects
  • Weapons of mass destruction > Psychological aspects
  • Weapons of mass destruction > Social aspects
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references and index.
Access (note)
  • Access restricted to authorized users.
Contents
Introduction -- Perilous times -- The nuclear-haunted era -- What to mobilize against -- Waging war on terror -- Weapons of mass destruction -- Panics and pandemics -- Environmental catastrophe -- Setting a new agenda -- The call for action -- Notes -- Selected bibliography -- Index.
LCCN
2009026879
OCLC
ssj0000335053
Author
Wuthnow, Robert.
Title
Be very afraid [electronic resource] : the cultural response to terror, pandemics, environmental devastation, nuclear annihilation, and other threats / Robert Wuthnow.
Imprint
Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2010.
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Access
Access restricted to authorized users.
Connect to:
Available from home with a valid library card
Available onsite at NYPL
View in Legacy Catalog