Books & Poetry

Susan Faludi’s new book would not have been necessary if the American (and indeed UK) press had done its job. The aftermath of 9/11 presented the American Right and its cheerleaders in the media and blogosphere with an opportunity to do much of what it wanted, but had no electoral mandate to do. Others have already charted the way everyone from vice-president Cheney to former left-wingers like Christopher Hitchens paved the way to a vicious and stupid war in Iraq. Faludi documents a similar process of opinion-forming that was meant to bury feminism.

For example, women were supposed to have rushed into marriage and motherhood in the aftermath of the attacks. But this didn’t happen. Nor did the predicted post-9/11 baby boom, or the expected cultural shift from post-modern cynicism towards the square-jawed values of an imagined frontier. The American Right likes to believe that it can mould reality to its will by saying things loudly. The only consolation of Faludi’s book is that its attempt to destroy feminism was less bloody and destructive than the worst-planned war in history.

Faludi has sharp-toothed fun with the stupid things that were said by pundits and leader writers. She is at her best when discussing the American frontier and the way its strong, active women were reduced to passivity in memory and fiction. Faludi’s book is a reminder that lies have to be fought before they turn into myths we live by.