Urban Nightmares: The Media, The Right, and the Moral Panic Over the City

by Steve Macek

University of Minnesota Press

May 2006, 360 pages, $22.95

by Chris Sahl

Macek dissects with profound disappointment and regret the effects of victim blaming, repressive law enforcement policies, and scapegoating of urban residents by conservative pundits, politicians, news media, and popular culture.

Thanks for the thoughtful, well written and thorough review, Chris. You’re absolutely right that the film chapter (even more than the chapter on TV news) is the heart of the book and the one around which most of the other chapters were written. You probably won’t be surprised to learn that I did consider including a chapter on representations of the inner city in popular music (not just rap, but goth , punk and “industrial” too). But the book seemed too long as it was. Moreover, the enormous (and growing) body of scholarship on popular music is definitely outside my core areas of expertise. Still, I agree that it was a glaring omission.

Comment by Steve Macek — September 7, 2006 @ 1:54 pm

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