Americans have always been known for their optimism—that powerful, cultural trait that leads us to be hopeful, to be positive, to observe the glass half-full, to see the doughnut in all its doughy perfection, and not the hole. And yet, in the first post-9/11 decade, much of our foreign and domestic policy was driven by worst-case scenarios and heightened fears of terrorism.

In “Freaking Out: A Decade of Living with Terrorism,” Joshua Woods, a West Virginia University assistant professor of sociology and anthropology, interweaves the sociology and psychology of terrorism, to create a broader and more compelling explanation of how the attacks on 9/11 have changed American society. Offering a concise review of the shifting policy arena in the post-9/11 era, Woods chronicles not only major U.S. government actions, such as the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, but also less visible changes, such as shifts in immigration policy and the use and abuse of Homeland Security funding by state and local governments.

Investigating the public’s response to terrorism, Woods examines the link between media coverage of terrorism and public perceptions of the threat—demonstrating how some news coverage elevates people’s worries more than others.

“The perceived threat of terrorism has in part provoked some of the most significant events of the 21st century, including the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the long-term surge in defense spending, the USA Patriot Act, the increase in security measures everywhere, the tightening of immigration policies, the demonization of Islam, the secret CIA prisons in Eastern Europe, extraordinary rendition, the torture of prisoners, the unending detention of terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay, the thousands of dead American soldiers, and the tens of thousands of civilian casualties,” Woods said.

“In ‘Freaking Out’, I attempt to explain why these events took place. Although I tell this story from a social scientific perspective, my goals as a scholar are inspired by a passion for social justice, human rights, political freedom and a persistent belief that we can make the world a better place to live.”

The events of 9/11 influenced the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of public officials, members of the press, and ordinary people. The reactions of these groups are deeply interrelated, but the study of them has remained isolated and compartmentalized across several academic disciplines until now. Demonstrating the virtue of multidisciplinary synthesis, this book advances the growing field of terrorism studies in new directions.

Although “Freaking Out” will likely be seen as an academic text, Woods wrote the book for a broader audience. While the reader will find plenty of endnotes and detailed citations, he or she will also encounter references to a host of pop culture icons, from Jon Stewart to Dr. Seuss, as well as lively introductions and succinct conclusions to each of the book’s eight chapters.

Woods is the coauthor of “Feudal America: Elements of the Middle Ages in Contemporary Society” (Penn State University Press, 2011) and coeditor of “America: Sovereign Defender or Cowboy Nation?” (Ashgate, 2005).

For more information, contact Joshua Woods, assistant professor of sociology and anthropology, at (304) 293–8843 or Joshua.Woods@mail.wvu.edu.

-WVU-

cs/2/15/2012

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