Includes bibliographical references (pages 249-263) and index.
The triumph of civilization : race and American exceptionalism before Darwin -- Man the toolmaker : race, technology, and colonialism in Darwin's The descent of man -- The Darwinist frontier : Roosevelt, Turner, and the evolution of the West -- Darwin's bulldogs : evolution and the future-war story in Britain -- Conquering new frontiers : Burroughs, London, and the race wars of the future -- The yellow peril : science fiction and the response to the Pacific war -- "A very pleasant way to die" : science fiction, race, and the official representation of the atomic bomb -- Beyond the yellow peril : John Hersey's "Hiroshima" -- Official fictions : future-war stories after Hiroshima -- Survival and self-help : civil defense, white suburbia, and the rise of the nuclear frontier -- The color of Ground Zero : civil defense, segregation, and savagery on the nuclear frontier.
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"Citing George W. Bush's "Axis of Evil," Sharp argues that many Americans still believe in the racially charged opposition between civilization and savagery, and consider the possibility of nonwhite "savages" gaining control of technology the biggest threat in the "war on terror." His book shows us that this conflict is but the latest installment in an ongoing saga that has been at the heart of American identity from the beginning - and that understanding it is essential if we are to eradicate racist mythologies from American life."--Jacket.
"In Savage Perils, Patrick Sharp examines the racial underpinnings of American culture, from the early industrial age to the Cold War. He explores the influence of Darwinism, frontier nostalgia, and literary modernism on the history and representations of nuclear weaponry. Taking into account such factors as anthropological race theory and Asian immigration, he charts the origins of a worldview that continues to shape our culture and politics."