Citation

Lederer D. J. Soc. Hist. 2014; 48(2): 482-484.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, George Mason University Press)

DOI

10.1093/jsh/shu090

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Is this a history of American suicide, a psychological panorama of the new Republic from independence and Federalism to the abolitionist movement, or simply a cleverly framed biography of Benjamin Rush? It's all three and more, a synthetic history of suicide unanimously voted "best book of the semester" by a persnickety group of Irish post-graduate students. Bell weaves patterns of moral panics into a compelling narrative recounting the fledgling nation's collective fears of individual self-destruction from the 1780s to the Civil War. The ominous threat of suicide to collective survival mirrored popular apprehensions over tensions between social unity and individual liberty, between control and rebellion. methodologically, the author employs sources from the print news media, romantic novels, philanthropy, criminal justice, religious fundamentalism and the anti-slavery movement to scrutinize partisan instrumentalization of suicide as a weapon in culture wars during the formative years of American national identity. In his introduction, Bell raises the capriciousness and opacity of suicidal intent (always open to interpretation as it can never be confirmed), which proved enormously adaptable in the political arena. Suicide could effectively vilify or eulogize in ethnic, political, racial, religious and social terms. The contentious meanings of suicide adapted to specific challenges facing the new Republic over "the proper relationship between private will and public interest"....

Language: en