Culture of Violence
(see also War Toys, Boxing, Cockfighting, Bullfighting)
The Killing Game. Gary Webb, Sacramento News & Review (10/14./04). For young men, first-person shooters are the hottest computer games around. That's why the Army has spent $10 million making one of its own.
For Bullied Kids, a Path Beyond Living in Fear. Ben Feller, San Jose Mercury News (12/13/03).
From Unruh to Muhammad: The Leading Cause of Violence in America is its Militarized Culture. Alexander Cockburn, Working for Change (10/30/02).
Violent
Media is Good for Kids. Gerard Jones, Mother Jones (2/28/00).
On the Web: Specialized Sites
In the Library: Articles
Anderson, C.A. & B.J. Bushman. "The effects of media violence on society," Science 295 (2002):2377-78.
__________; N.L. Carnegey & J. Eubanks. "Exposure to violent media: the effects of songs with violent lyrics on aggressive thoughts & feelings," Journal of Personality & Social Psychology 84 (2003):960-971.
Baker, Kevin. "We're in the army now," Harper's (10/03):35-46. GOP's plan to spread military culture.
Bushman, B.J. & C.A. Anderson. "Media violence & the American public: scientific facts vs. media disinformation," American Psychologist 56 (2001): 477-89.
Dicks, Michael. "Down & out in America: living in a death-oriented society," Journal of Poverty 5,2 (2001):115-119.
Slotkin, Richard. "Gunfighters & Green Berets: the Magnificent Seven & the myth of counter-insurgency," Radical History Review 44 (1989):65-90.
Ziferstein, Isidore. "Psychological habituation to war," American Journal of Orthopsychiatry ?,? (4/67). How government propaganda prepares people for war.
In the Library: Non-Fiction Books
Barker, Francis. The Culture of Violence: Tragedy & History (Chicago: U. Chicago, 1993).
Butterfield, Fox. All God's Children: The Boskey Family & the American Tradition of Violence (NY: Knopf, 1995).
Cagin, Seth & Philip Dray. Hollywood Films of the 70s: Sex, Drugs, Violence, Rock 'n Roll & Politics (NY: Harper & Row, 1984).
Chandler, David; John Gill, Tania Guha & Gilane Tawadros (eds.). Boxer: An Anthology of Writings on Boxing & Visual Culture (Cambridge MA, 1997).
Donohue, John J. Warrior Dreams: The Martial Arts & the American Imagination (Westport CT: Bergin & Garvey, 1994).
Duclos, Denis.The Werewolf Complex: America's Fascination with Violence [1994] (NY: Berg, 1998).
Gentile, D.A. (ed.) Media Violence & Children (Westport CT: Praeger, 2003).
Gibson, James W. Warrior Dreams: Violence & Manhood in Post-Vietnam America (NY: Hill & Wang, 1994).
Gilligan, James. Violence. Reflections on a National Epidemic (NY, 1996).
Goldberg, Julie H. & William Schwabe. How Youthful Offenders Perceive Gun Violence (Santa Monica CA: RAND, 1999).
Gottesman, Ronald & Richard Maxwell Brown (eds.) Violence in America: An Encyclopedia (3 vols.; NY: Scribner, 1999).
Grossman, Dave. On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War & Society (Boston: Back Bay, 1996).
Hinds, Michael. Violent Kids: How Can We Change the Trend? (Dubuque IA: Kendall/Hunt, 2000).
Hsu, Francis L.K. Rugged Individualism Reconsidered: Essays in Psychological Anthropology (Knoxville: U. Tennessee, 1982). Examines negative aspects, possible key to the frequency of interpersonal violence in our culture.
Jones, Gerard. Killing Monsters (NY: Basic Books, 2002).
Miller, A. (ed.) The Social Psychology of Good & Evil (NY: Guilford, 2004).
Mitchell, Kevin. War, Baby: The Glamour of Violence (London: Yellow Jersey, 2001).
Rupesinghe, Kumar & Marcial Rubio C. (eds.) The Culture of Violence (NY: UN University, 1994).
Seltzer, Mark. Serial Killers: Death & Life in America's Wound Clulture (NY: Routledge, 1998).
Sharrett, Christopher (ed.) Mythologies of Violence in Postmodern Media (Detroit, 1999).
Slotkin, richard. Gunfighter Nation: The Myth of the Frontier in 20th-Century America (NY: Harper Perennial, 1992).
Twitchell, James B. Dreadful Pleasures: An Anatomy of Modern Horror (NY: Oxford, 1985).
__________. Preposterous Violence: Fables of Aggression in Modern Culture (NY: Oxford, 1989).
__________. Carnival Culture: The Trashing of Taste in America (NY: Columbia U, 1992).
__________. For Shame: The Loss of Common Decency in American Culture (NY: St. Martin's, 1997).
Viteritti, Joseph P. & Diane Ravitch (eds.) Kid Stuff: Marketing Sex and Violence to America's Children (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 2003)
Wertham, Frederic. Seduction of the Innocent (NY, 1954). Pioneering critical content-analysis of crime comics widely peddled to children.
__________. The Circle of Guilt (NY, 1956). Case study of a child killer.
Wesley, Marilyn C. Violent Adventure: Contemporary Fiction by American Men ( Virginia, 2003).
Whitmer, Barbara. The Violence Mythos (Albany: SUNY, 1997).
In the Library: Fiction
CD & Audio:
Film & Video:
"Bowling for Columbine" [2002], dir. Michael Moore. In video stores.
"Popular Culture: Rage, Rights, & Responsibility" [2000], dir. Mark Ganguzza, 58m. From Films for the Humanities & Sciences.
"TV Violence & You" [1997], by Mennonite Media Productions, 30m. From Films for the Humanities.
"Why We Fight" [2005], dir. Eugene Jarecki, ?m.