1st Edition
Superheroes and American Self Image From War to Watergate
By Michael Goodrum
Copyright 2016
248 Pages
by
Routledge
258 Pages
by
Routledge
258 Pages
by
Routledge
Also available as eBook on:
This book offers an interdisciplinary approach to the study of comic-books, mobilising them as a means to understand better the political context in which they are produced. Structured around key political events in the US between 1938 and 1975, the author combines analyses of visual and textual discourse, including comic-book letters pages, to come to a more complete picture of the relationship... Read more
List of Figures
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. The Second World War and Before
2. The End of the Second World War: What next for the US?
3. Rise of McCarthyism: End of Alternatives
4. The ‘Liberal Consensus’: Comfort, not Critique
5. New Left, New Right, New Comic Books: Superheroes and Unrest
6. The Changing of the Code: Origins, Debate and Effects
7. Vietnam, Watergate and the end of Consensus: What’s a Superhero to do?
Conclusion
Bibliography
Biography
Michael Goodrum is Senior Lecturer in Modern History in the Department of History and American Studies at Canterbury Christ Church University, UK.
’Michael Goodrum has provided a fantastic resource on the historical evolution of American self-image in the twentieth century. Particularly striking is his deployment of superhero comics as a fun-house mirror that actively reworks American self-image, indicating how identities must be actualised in specific forms. By cutting back and forth between the political struggles and the superhero narratives of the time, Goodrum articulates the complex geopolitics of the twentieth century with verve and charm.’ Jason Dittmer, University College London, UK
