audiobook History as a Social Science: An Essay on the Nature and Purpose of Historical Studies by F. Dovring in Arts-Photography

Description

In this provocative cultural study; the serial killer emerges as a central figure in what Mark Seltzer calls Americas wound culture. From the traumas displayed by talk show guests and political candidates; to the violent entertainment of Crash or The Alienist; to the latest terrible report of mass murder; we are surrounded by the accident from which we cannot avert our eyes. Bringing depth and shadow to our collective portrait of what a serial killer must be; Mark Seltzer draws upon popular sources; scholarly analyses; and the language of psychoanalysis to explore the genesis of this uniquely modern phenomenon. Revealed is a fascination with machines and technological reproduction; with the singular and the mass; with definitions of self; other; and intimacy. What emerges is a disturbing picture of how contemporary culture is haunted by technology and the instability of identity.