Redgranite Public Library

Facing fear, meditations on cancer and politics, courage, and hope, Judith Strasser

eng

Includes bibliographical references (p. 218-219) and index

index present

non fiction

Facing fear

bibliography

261174036

Judith Strasser

"Judith Strasser began to investigate the nature of fear just after President George W. Bush's re-election. Bush's campaign strategy - repeatedly invoking the fear of terrorist attacks - reminded Judith of the 1950s, when politicians like Senator Joseph McCarthy evoked widespread fear of the Communist menace." "Judith knew the long-term consequences of the political manipulation of fear: in 1985, a homeless Seattle man, convinced that he was targeting a prominent Communist, murdered her college friend Charles Goldmark, his wife, and their two young sons. More than twenty years earlier, Goldmark's father had lost his seat in the Washington legislature after a McCarthyite smear campaign that libeled him as a secret Communist agent." "Shortly after Bush's re-election, Judith flew to Seattle to begin research on a book about political fear. But even as she boarded the plane, she was facing her own anxiety about her health. Soon after she returned home, she was diagnosed with stomach cancer." "Facing Fear traces Judith's attempt to understand the nature of fear and anxiety and to regain control of a life threatened by fatal disease. Part memoir, part journalism, and all heart, her book explores our biological and psychological responses to fearful events, examines the culture of fear in which we live, and suggests ways that, as individuals and in community, we can overcome our anxieties and face our fears with courage and hope."--BOOK JACKET

meditations on cancer and politics, courage, and hope

Introduction: 9/11 : reason and unreason -- The Goldmark murders : the politics of paranoia -- Uncertain futures, mortal fears -- Pine cones and almonds : what happens when we're afraid -- Coping with fear and anxiety -- Weaving the fabric of fear : economics, media, politics -- Weaving the fabric of fear : biology, psychology, and risk -- The courage to live with fear -- Epilogue : "fears of your life"