Babson Prof’s New Book—9/11 Culture—Reveals How the Traumatic Event Reshaped the American Way of Life
Listen to podcast interview with Prof. Jeff Melnick on 9/11 Culture: http://www.babson.edu/podcast/2009-09-02JMelnick.mp3
In his new book, 9/11 Culture (Wiley-Blackwell Publishing 2009), Babson College Professor Jeffrey Melnick examines how that singular traumatic event reshaped American culture.
Melnick gathered examples—many from Babson students in his American Studies class—of film, music, advertising, photos, memorials, comic strips, fiction, telethons, and poetry that clearly express the transformation of American life in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.
He also observes how these expressive tools have been integral to the nationwide healing process. Melnick speaks to the core of the American experience after 9/11.
9/11 Culture serves as a timely and accessible introduction to the complexities of American culture in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.
• Gives balanced examinations of a broad catalogue of artifacts from film, music, photography, literary fiction, and other popular arts.
• Investigates the ways that 9/11 has exerted a shaping force on a wide range of practices, from the politics of femininity to the poetics of redemption.
• Includes pedagogical material to assist understanding and teaching, including film and discographies, and a useful teachers’ preface.
To order 9/11 Culture go to: http://www.amazon.com/9-11-Culture-Jeffrey-Melnick/dp/1405173718/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1250013543&sr=8-1
About Jeffrey Melnick
Jeffrey Melnick is associate professor of American Studies at Babson College, specializing in teaching African American Studies, popular culture, and American Cultural History. He has published five books, the first of which (A Right to Sing the Blues: African Americans, Jews, and American Popular Song) was a Booklist Editors' Choice selection for 1999. Dr. Melnick's co-written book, Immigration and American Popular Culture, was published in 2006 as part of a new series for NYU Press.
He has also written Black-Jewish Relations on Trial: Leo Frank and Jim Conley in the New South and is co-editor of American Popular Music: New Approaches to the Twentieth Century, and Race and the Modern Artist (Oxford University Press, 2003). Dr. Melnick has been named co-editor for a series of books on American popular music to be published by the University of Massachusetts Press. His research interests include immigration to the United States, Popular culture, and Black-Jewish relations.
Areas of expertise include: American Studies, Black-Jewish Relations, 9/11 Culture, Ethnic Culture and Popular Music.
Education
B.A., Cornell University
Ph.D., Harvard University
