The photographer and reformer Jacob Riis once wrote; ldquo;I have seen an armful of daisies keep the peace of a block better than a policeman and his club.rdquo; Riis was not alone in his belief that beauty could tame urban chaos; but are aesthetic experiences always a social good? Could aesthetics also inspire violent crime; working-class unrest; and racial murder? To answer these questions; Russ Castronovo turns to those who debated claims that art could democratize culturemdash;civic reformers; anarchists; novelists; civil rights activists; and college professorsmdash;to reveal that beauty provides unexpected occasions for radical; even revolutionary; political thinking.
#2384082 in eBooks 2010-06-22 2010-06-22File Name: B003TLMRKI
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Four StarsBy PrintBoyA great examination of one of my favorite topics!4 of 4 people found the following review helpful. The Hard-Boiled library.By Keith SadlerThis book belongs right alongside J.Naremores More Than Night:Film Noir in Its Contexts. Noir as a style is far more complex than most ever imagined. This book goes a long way toward understanding this cinematic legacy.3 of 4 people found the following review helpful. Brilliant!By DelphineProfWith Unless the Threat of Death Is Behind Them: Hard-boiled Fiction and Film Noir. John T. Irwin provides once more a study on the detective fiction genre with a bright insight. The only reproach I could formulate is the authors tendency to over-quote the original texts. even in cases when it is not absolutely necessary (which tends to make his summary of the novels he is studying rather lengthy.) However. the finesse of his theories easily makes up for this slight problem.
