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Constructing America's enemies: the invasions of the USA.(Essay)
- Article from:
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Yearbook of English Studies
- Article date:
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July 1, 2007
- Author:
- Seed, David
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Copyright informationCOPYRIGHT 2007 Modern Humanities Research Association. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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ABSTRACTS
As soon as the USA began to emerge as an imperial power in the late nineteenth century, writers began to publish narratives describing how the country was being attacked by different hostile forces. The identity of these forces was sometimes clear (as in Yellow Peril narratives); sometimes they were figured more ambiguously as alien species. Whatever particular form they took, these agencies are used by the writers concerned to probe perceived weaknesses and anxieties in the USA such as the nation's lack of military preparedness, or post-Second World War fears of depersonalized conformity. This essay examines a range of examples from the 1880s through to the Cold ...