Reviews

Conference Review: IAAS Postgraduate Conference

The annual Irish Association for American Studies post-graduate symposium’s aim for 2014 was to explore and acknowledge the growing numbers of new scholars interested in American Studies, particularly in Ireland.

Book Review: Canadian Literature and Cultural Memory, Edited by Cynthia Sugars and Eleanor Ty

In contemporary Canada, especially with the on-going Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s attempts to provide a platform for the stories of injustice from the survivors of the Residential School system, discussions are taking place in relation to memory issues. How is the “truth” about the past constructed by different social groups? How can memory be “inherited” through generations? How can memory shape identity and a sense of belonging?

The Best of 2014, and What’s Next for U.S. Studies Online in 2015

As we enter a new year, here at U.S. Studies Online we thought it would be the perfect opportunity to reflect on what a fantastic 2014 we have had and look ahead to some of the exciting projects we have in the pipeline for 2015. In keeping with the tradition of festive toasts given by inebriated relatives after the Turkey has been sliced but before anyone has had chance to tuck in, this post will be just a little rambling, contain a few mixed metaphors, and be more sentimental than the adopted child of Love, Actually and the end of A Christmas Carol (Christmas, Actually. Quick! Does anyone know Richard Curtis’s phone number?).

Must-Hear Podcasts: A List for Students and Scholars of American Studies

In December 2014 we asked you what are the very best podcasts for students and scholars in American Studies. Here is the list we received!

Podcasts that made the list include the popular Serial, This American Life, Love+ Radio, Planet Money, Night Vale and BackStory to some surprising scientific recommendations, including NASA Science Casts and StarTalk!

Conference Review: APG/BAAS Annual US Politics Colloquium

The event was a combination of two discussion panels and two paper presentations showcasing the diverging views of the Democratic and Republican participants on the 2014 midterm election results and the parties in general, as well as perspectives on Barack Obama regarding race and foreign policy.

Conference Review: Sixth London Colloquium of the Native Studies Research Network

The papers presented at this year’s colloquium focused on a range of diverse aspects of the study of Native American and Indigenous issues, from literature to history of thought, from art and visual studies to human rights,

Fargo 1996, Fargo 2014, and the Art of Homage

“Homage”: the deliberate but respectful recreation of one work within another. Think of Michael Cunningham’s The Hours, homage to Ms. Dalloway; the BBC’s Life on Mars and The Sweeney; the stairway shoot-out in The Untouchables and the Odessa Steps scene in Battleship Potemkin. They are all homage, yet all their own.

But contiguous with homage is plagiarism: disrespectful, deceitful, and what one expects prima facie of Noah Hawley’s Fargo.

Conference Review: ‘Not Your Average Superhero’

The three panellists, Zara Dinnen, Tony Venezia and Daniel Rourke, set out to explore superheroics not on the cinema screen, but behind the keyboard, in the literary novel, and in relation to digital technologies.

Review: BrANCA Reading Group Session, ‘Forgotten Sensations’ and Sensationalism

We started the afternoon discussing The Leavenworth Case. A classic yet little-read piece of detective fiction, the novel opens with news of the death of retired New York merchant Horatio Leavenworth, murdered in his Manhattan mansion.

Book Review: Chasing the American Dream – Understanding What Shapes Our Fortunes by Mark Robert Rank, et al

The American Dream is a concept and ideal that millions of people around the word subscribe to wholeheartedly, to the extent that huge numbers risk everything just to have a chance of achieving it. Chasing the American Dream explains just what that dream is, what it means to a plethora of Americans striving for it and assesses whether it is still possible to achieve in the context of an economic downturn.