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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.

Table of 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.

Author/Creator:

Wuthnow, Robert

Languages:

English

Language Notes:

Item content: English

Main Work:

Be very afraid: the cultural response to terror, pandemics, environmental devastation, nuclear annihilation, and other threats [by Wuthnow, R.]

Subjects:

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

Fear

Terrorism

Epidemics

Global warming

Psychological aspects

Nuclear weapons

Weapons of mass destruction

General Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Physical Description:

294 pages ; 25 cm

Call Numbers:

HV551.2 .W88 2010

ISBNs:

9780199730872 (alk. paper)
0199730873 (alk. paper)

Library of Congress Control Numbers:

2009026879

OCLC Numbers:

436221092