Description
Book SynopsisTerrorism, jihad, fundamentalism, blowback. These and other highly charged terms have saturated news broadcasts and everyday conversation since September 11th. But to keen ears their meanings change depending upon who's doing the talking. So what do these words really mean? And what are people trying to say when they use them?
Trade Review""Journalists are being attacked for telling the truth, for trying to tell it how it is. American journalists especially. I urge them to read a remarkable new book published by the New York University Press and edited by John Collins and Ross Glover. It's called
Collateral Language and is, in its own words, intended to expose "the tyranny of political rhetoric". Its chapter titles —"Anthrax", "Cowardice", "Evil", "Freedom", Fundamentalism", "Justice", "Terrorism", "Vital Interests" and—my favourite—"The War on..." (fill in the missing country) tell it all."-" -- Robert Fisk * The Independent *
""Words are weapons in our new war, and all citizens are combatants. As a dictionary of post-911 rhetoric, Collateral Language shows us why we need smart books, not smart bombs. Brilliantly conceived, this book defines the axis of intelligence." -- Amitava Kumar,author of Passport Photos and Bombay-London-New York
"A bracing shot of 90-proof intellectual bourbon to counteract the slush and mush of America's post 9/11 War on Language and Reason." -- Alexander Cockburn,columnist for The Nation and coeditor of CounterPunch
"The resulting book is to be warmly welcomed and slauted as a valuable contribution to a vital political debate on criminality in language in which the criminals are all too often granted impunity." * Tribune *
"This leftward assault on 'the tyranny of political rhetoric used to justify America's new war [on terrorism]' is unlikely to end up on Bush administration nightstands." * Washington Post *
Table of Contents1 Anthrax 2 Blowback 3 Civilization versus Barbarism 4 Cowardice 5 Evil 6 Freedom 7 Fundamentalism 8 Jihad 9 Justice 10 Targets 11 Terrorism 12 Unity 13 Vital Interests 14 The War on ______
