end of victory culture

In a substantial new afterword to his classic account of the collapse of American triumphalism in the wake of World War II, Tom Engelhardt carries that story into the twenty-first century. He explores how, in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, the younger George Bush headed for the Wild West (Osama bin Laden, ""Wanted, Dead or Alive""); how his administration brought ""victory culture"" roaring back as part of its Global War on Terror and its rush to invade Saddam Hussein's Iraq; and how, from its ""Mission Accomplished"" moment on, its various stories of triumph crashed and burned in that land.