Synopses & Reviews
2007 Choice Outstanding Academic TitleAt the funeral of Matthew Shepard—the young Wyoming man brutally murdered for being gay—the Reverend Fred Phelps led his parishioners in protest, displaying signs with slogans like “Matt Shepard rots in Hell,” “Fags Die God Laughs,” and “God Hates Fags.” In counter-protest, activists launched an “angel action,” dressing in angel costumes, with seven-foot high wings, and creating a visible barrier so one would not have to see the hateful signs.
Though long thought of as one of the most virulently anti-gay genres of contemporary American politics and culture, in God Hates Fags, Michael Cobb maintains that religious discourses have curiously figured as the most potent and pervasive forms of queer expression and activism throughout the twentieth century. Cobb focuses on how queers have assumed religious rhetoric strategically to respond to the violence done against them, alternating close readings of writings by James Baldwin, Tennessee Williams, Jean Toomer, Dorothy Allison, and Stephen Crane with critical legal and political analyses of Supreme Court Cases and anti-gay legislation. He also pays deep attention to the political strategies, public declarations, websites, interviews, and other media made by key religious right organizations that have mounted the most successful regulations and condemnations of homosexuality.
Review
“Michael Cobb raises questions of both ethics and effectiveness that are deeply urgent. If you, too, want to know how the rhetorics of violence that swirl around queer people work, then read this book.”
-Janet R. Jakobsen,co-author of Love the Sin: Sexual Regulation and the Limits of Religious Tolerance
Review
“[Cobb] begins not only in the middle of still fresh news (Matthew Shepard, Fred Phelps, Colorados Amendment 2, and the marriage debates), but in the middle of ordinary assumptions about rhetoric and our east elision of sexuality with race.”
-Journal of the American Academy of Religion.,
Review
“God Hates Fags is an exciting, even exceptional, book, and it will contribute to an important and necessary conversation between queer studies and African American literary and cultural studies.”
-Christopher Nealon,author of Foundlings: Lesbian and Gay Historical Emotion Before Stonewall
Review
“I am moved by it, as by his practiced rhetorical sensibility.”
-Journal of the American Academy of Religion,
Review
“Looks specifically at texts and spectacles about religious violence and hatred.”
-Julie Novkov,University at Albany, SUNY
Review
“Michael Cobb raises questions of both ethics and effectiveness that are deeply urgent. If you, too, want to know how the rhetorics of violence that swirl around queer people work, then read this book.”
“[Cobb] begins not only in the middle of still fresh news (Matthew Shepard, Fred Phelps, Colorado’s Amendment 2, and the marriage debates), but in the middle of ordinary assumptions about rhetoric and our east elision of sexuality with race.”
“God Hates Fags is an exciting, even exceptional, book, and it will contribute to an important and necessary conversation between queer studies and African American literary and cultural studies.”
“I am moved by it, as by his practiced rhetorical sensibility.”
“Looks specifically at texts and spectacles about religious violence and hatred.”
Review
“I am moved by it, as by his practiced rhetorical sensibility.”
Review
“Looks specifically at texts and spectacles about religious violence and hatred.”
Review
“Rich with ideas, the book excels by stimulating thought and generating discussion.”
-Information, Communication, and Society,
Review
“As more and more people use computers, the Internet and mobile phones, the study of their effects on our culture (and vice versa) becomes increasingly important. Framed as a “how-to guide for those new to cyberstudies,” Critical Cyberculture Studies goes some of the way to emphasising the importance and the diversity of this young academic field.”
-M/C Reviews,
Review
“As studies of the Internet and cyberculture begin to mature, it is a particularly important time for critical studies—critical of the subject matter, and critical of the emerging field itself. The consciously interdisciplinary approach of Critical Cyberculture Studies, and the depth and breadth of the contributions, make this an important foundational work for a new field of study. If only we had had a critical study of communication when the Gutenberg revolution was beginning!”
-Howard Rheingold,author of The Virtual Community and Smart Mobs
Review
“This expansive book functions as both survey and call to action. Even as they map the shifting contours of an emergent field, the editors and contributors warn against the deadening force of disciplinarity. They encourage a nimble, flexible formulation of cyberculture studies, one that can keep pace with the rapid pulse of technological change and, more importantly, also address the injustices wrought of life in a networked age. Like the best traditions of cultural studies, they aim not just to describe our moment but to matter in the world.”
-Tara McPherson,USC School of Cinema-Television
Synopsis
2007 Choice Outstanding Academic TitleAt the funeral of Matthew Shepardthe young Wyoming man brutally murdered for being gaythe Reverend Fred Phelps led his parishioners in protest, displaying signs with slogans like "Matt Shepard rots in Hell," "Fags Die God Laughs," and "God Hates Fags." In counter-protest, activists launched an "angel action," dressing in angel costumes, with seven-foot high wings, and creating a visible barrier so one would not have to see the hateful signs.
Though long thought of as one of the most virulently anti-gay genres of contemporary American politics and culture, in God Hates Fags, Michael Cobb maintains that religious discourses have curiously figured as the most potent and pervasive forms of queer expression and activism throughout the twentieth century. Cobb focuses on how queers have assumed religious rhetoric strategically to respond to the violence done against them, alternating close readings of writings by James Baldwin, Tennessee Williams, Jean Toomer, Dorothy Allison, and Stephen Crane with critical legal and political analyses of Supreme Court Cases and anti-gay legislation. He also pays deep attention to the political strategies, public declarations, websites, interviews, and other media made by key religious right organizations that have mounted the most successful regulations and condemnations of homosexuality.
Synopsis
Starting in the early 1990s, journalists and scholars began responding to and trying to take account of new technologies and their impact on our lives. By the end of the decade, the full-fledged study of cyberculture had arrived. Today, there exists a large body of critical work on the subject, with cutting-edge studies probing beyond the mere existence of virtual communities and online identities to examine the social, cultural, and economic relationships that take place online.
Taking stock of the exciting work that is being done and positing what cybercultures future might look like, Critical Cyberculture Studies brings together a diverse and multidisciplinary group of scholars from around the world to assess the state of the field. Opening with a historical overview of the field by its most prominent spokesperson, it goes on to highlight the interests and methodologies of a mobile and creative field, providing a much-needed how-to guide for those new to cyberstudies. The final two sections open up to explore issues of race, class, and gender and digital media's ties to capital and commerce—from the failure of dot-coms to free software and the hacking movement.
This flagship book is a must-read for anyone interested in the dynamic and increasingly crucial study of cyberculture and new technologies.
About the Author
David Silver is an assistant professor of media studies at the University of San Francisco.
Adrienne Massanari is a Ph.D. candidate in communication at the University of Washington.