"The Terror Dream" - American Men and 9/11

Susan Faludi's most recent book, "The Terror Dream," sounds interesting. It looks at the redefinition of American masculinity in the aftermath of 9/11:

When al-Qaida attacked their country, Faludi writes, the humiliating shame felt by American men watching helplessly on TV was experienced, at a subliminal level, sexually. "The post-9/11 commentaries were riddled with apprehensions that America was lacking in masculine fortitude." America's media fell back in love with the manly man - an old-fashioned hero strong enough to defend his nation and rescue his womenfolk. If he did not exist, he would have to be invented. So firemen had to be superheroes, widows had to be helpless, unmarried women had to be frantic to wed, and working mums had to want to stay at home. Crucially, strong men had to protect weak women - a desire vividly dramatised by the Rambo-style rescue in Iraq of Private Jessica Lynch, who found herself reconfigured by the media from professional soldier to helpless damsel.