Faculty Books
American Studies' faculty have authored a number of critically acclaimed books in recent years. Here is a sampling of their work.
¡Viva George! Celebrating Washington’s Birthday at the US-Mexico Border
For 120 years, residents of the cross-border community of Laredo/Nuevo Laredo have celebrated George Washington's birthday together, and Associate Professor of American Studies Elaine Pena's account reveals the essential political work of a time-honored civic tradition.
Out of Stock: The Warehouse in the History of Capitalism
Associate Professor of American Studies Dara Orenstein delivers an ambitious and engrossing account of that most generic and underappreciated site in American commerce and industry: the warehouse. She traces the progression from the nineteenth century’s bonded warehouses to today’s foreign-trade zones, enclaves where goods can be simultaneously on US soil and off US customs territory.
Sensual Excess: Queer Femininity and Brown Jouissance
Amber Jamilla Musser, associate professor of American Studies, reimagines black and brown sensuality to develop new modes of knowledge production. Sensual Excess works against the framing of black and brown bodies as sexualized, objectified and abject, focusing on unpacking the relationships between racialized sexuality and consumption to interrogate foundational concepts in psychoanalytic theory, critical race studies, feminism and queer theory.
The Kingdom of God Has No Borders: A Global History of American Evangelicals
Melani McAlister, professor of American studies and international affairs, offers a daring new perspective on conservative Christianity by focusing on the world outside American borders. In a narrative covering 50 years of evangelical history, she upends much of what we know—or think we know—about American evangelicals. Her case studies examine, for example, how Christian leaders have fought to stem the tide of HIV/AIDS in Africa while also supporting harsh repression of LGBTQ communities.
The Open Mind: Cold War Politics and the Sciences of Human Nature
Jamie Cohen-Cole chronicles the development of a rational, creative and autonomous self and demonstrates how the self became a defining feature of Cold War culture. Cohen-Cole presents an explanation of how policy makers and social critics used the idea of open-minded human nature to advance centrist politics from 1945 to 1965.
It's Been Beautiful: Soul! and Black Power Television
Gayle Wald, professor of English and American Studies, examines the first African American black variety television program, "Soul!," which was influential in expressing the diversity of black popular culture, thought and politics, as well as helping to create the notion of black community.
Orgies of Feeling: Melodrama and the Politics of Freedom
Elisabeth Anker, associate professor of American Studies and political science, argues that American politics is often influenced by melodrama narratives from cinema and literature. This book focuses on the role of melodrama in the news media and presidential speeches after 9/11.
The Invention of Brownstone Brooklyn: Gentrification and the Search for Authenticity in Postwar New York
Suleiman Osman locates the origins of gentrification in Brooklyn in the cultural upheavals of the 1960s and 1970s, challenging the conventional wisdom that New York City's renaissance started in the 1990s. Gentrification began as a grassroots movement led by young and idealistic white college graduates searching for "authenticity" and life outside the burgeoning suburbs.
Citizenship and the Origins of Women’s History in the United States
Associate Professor of American Studies Teresa Anne Murphy outlines the development of women's history from the late eighteenth century to the time of the Civil War. Murphy examines literature that promoted domestic citizenship, and how these historical writers set the stage for a more progressive women's rights campaign. Murphy demonstrates that citizenship is at the heart of women's history and, consequently, that women's history is the history of nations.
Performing Piety: Making Space Sacred With the Virgin of Guadalupe
Associate Professor of American Studies Elaine Peña's study examines three spaces considered sacred to the Virgin of Guadalupe—at Tepeyac in Mexico City, at its replica in Des Plaines, Illinois, and at a sidewalk shrine constructed by Mexican nationals in Chicago. Weaving together on-the-ground observations with insights drawn from performance studies, Peña demonstrates how devotees’ rituals develop, sustain and legitimize these sacred spaces.
