Killing for Life: The Apocalyptic Narrative of Pro-Life Politics

Carol Mason

Published by Cornell University Press 2002

Killing for Life

The Apocalyptic Narrative of Pro-Life Politics

Carol Mason

https://doi.org/10.7591/9781501724671

Overview
Contents

About this book

How can those who seek to protect the "right to life" defend assassination in the name of saving lives? Carol Mason investigates this seeming paradox by examining pro-life literature—both archival material and writings from the front lines of the...

Author / Editor information

Carol Mason is Associate Professor of English and Women's Studies at Oklahoma State University.

Reviews

Linda Kintz, University of Oregon:

Not only does Carol Mason provide an intricate history of the pro-life movement, but, in a book that should be required reading for anyone concerned with national politics, she also shows how central that movement's intense grassroots organizing and worldview was to the contemporary consolidation of right-wing conservatism at a national level, where many of its members are now in powerful positions, both in and out of government. The book is a model of accessibility, in that it is a fascinating read, but the author also develops a technique of reflexivity, in which she traces theoretical concepts such as textuality, narrative, cultural logics, and the political unconscious, and then, by way of interviews and archival material, anchors them in meticulously rigorous and concrete historical descriptions and contexts.

Cindy Patton, author of Globalizing AIDS:

Killing for Life is a groundbreaking analysis of the narrative and rhetorical strategies used by the 'prolife' movement in the U.S. Far from simply pointing to the absurdity or revulsive nature of various highly publicized prolife strategies (from murder of abortion-providers to throwing blood and alleged fetus parts on bystanders), Mason shows how this branch of the new right has radically reshaped the entire framework of political debate about the body and its use and women's right to control the destiny of their own bodies. Unlike other writers, who view the new right as a fringe conspiracy, Mason shows the continuity between abortion foes and neo-liberal critics of the welfare state. This book is essential reading for those concerned with democratic processes and with the rights of women and minorities.

Marlene Gerber Fried, Hampshire College:

Carol Mason has given us something new and important—an account which makes killing for life comprehensible, a logical outgrowth of millennialist ideology. She manages to do this in a way that treats millennialist thought and pro-life violence seriously and respectfully without romanticizing or justifying the perpetrators, and without falling into a simplistic clash of absolutes analysis.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2. From Protest to Retribution Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	46
3. Protection from and for the Fetal Citizen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	72
4. The Gideon Story Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	99
5. Making Time for America's Armageddon Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	130
6. Narrating Enemies Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	158
Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	187
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	195
Selected Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	235
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	241

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Audience: General/trade;
Pages
- Main content: 264
Illustrations
- Other: 8 halftones
Keywords: Religious Studies

eBook

Published: August 6, 2018
ISBN: 9781501724671