American Catastrophe

On the face of it most of us would agree that catastrophe is harmful and avoiding it is key to human survival and progress. And yet the planet warms 30000 more Americans are killed by guns each year and Donald J. Trump creates political chaos with his rage tweets. <i>American Catastrophe</i> explores such examples to argue that in fact we live in an age where catastrophe not only functions as a dominant organizing rhetoric but further as an appealing and unifying force for many communities across America.<br>  <br> Luke Winslow introduces the <i>rhetorical homology</i> as a critical tool useful for understanding how catastrophic appeals unite Americans across disparate religious ecological cultural and political spheres. More specifically the four case study chapters examining Christian fundamentalism anti-environmentalism gun rights messaging and the administration of Donald Trump reveal a consistent formal pattern oriented toward catastrophe. In teasing out this orientation toward catastrophe Winslow offers a fresh provocative and insightful contribution to our most pressing social challenges.<br>