Difficult Reputations
Collective Memories of the Evil, Inept, and Controversial
Format:Paperback
Publisher:The University of Chicago Press
Published:24th Apr '01
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
We take reputations for granted. Believing in the bad and the good natures of our notorious or illustrious forebears is part of our shared national heritage. Yet we are largely ignorant of how such reputations came to be, who was instrumental in creating them, and why. Even less have we considered how villains, just as much as heroes, have helped our society define its values. Presenting essays on America's most reviled traitor, its worst president, and its most controversial literary ingenue (Benedict Arnold, Warren G. Harding, and Lolita), among others, sociologist Gary Alan Fine analyzes negative, contested, and subcultural reputations. This volume offers eight compelling historical case studies as well as a theoretical introduction situating the complex roles in culture and history that negative reputations play. Arguing the need for understanding real conditions that lead to proposed interpretations, as well as how reputations are given meaning over time, this book marks an important contribution to the sociologies of culture and knowledge.
ISBN: 9780226249414
Dimensions: 23mm x 16mm x 2mm
Weight: 425g
264 pages