This volume looks at representations of ethnic and racial identities in relation to the development of urban culture in post-industrialised American cities. The concept of urban space organises the detailed illustration of a series of themes which structure chapters on white paranoia and urban decline; memories of urban passage; the racialised underclass; urban crime and justice; and globalisation and citizenship.

This important book challenges the idea that religious fundamentalism can adequately be understood as a paranoid, xenophobic faith. It demonstrates instead how it draws upon a long tradition of evangelical and millennialist scripture in its engagement with issues at the spiritual and ethical core of postmodernity in America. The author examines the contradictions of fundamentalism as they appear in prophecy, sermon, film and fiction, including work by Gore Vidal, Peter Matthiesen, Thom Jones, Alison Lurie and Pete Dexter. He shows, in an original reading, how scripture, race and politics have...

Promiscuous sexuality remains a central source of cultural fear and fascination, as seen in the resurgence of heated debates within American gay culture on its place in the era of AIDS. Cruising Culture provides the first extensive critical examination of competing understandings and experiences of promiscuity, both in post-war American gay culture and in American culture more broadly.In this original and provocative book, Ben Gove unpicks the root assumptions and contradictions which contribute to dominant punitive notions of promiscuous sex and desire. He challenges normative dichotomies...