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Also by Kenneth Goldsmith:

Seven American Deaths And Disasters, March 2013
Paperback / e-Book

SEVEN AMERICAN DEATHS AND DISASTERS
By: Kenneth Goldsmith

powerHouse Books
March 2013
On Sale: March 12, 2013
178 pages
ISBN: 1576876365
EAN: 9781576876367
Kindle: B00CRH2XR2
Paperback / e-Book
Add to Wish List

Non-Fiction

What are the words we use to describe something that we never thought we'd have to describe? In Seven American Deaths and Disasters, Kenneth Goldsmith transcribes historic radio and television reports of national tragedies as they unfurl, revealing an extraordinarily rich linguistic panorama of passionate description. Taking its title from the series of Andy Warhol paintings by the same name, Goldsmith recasts the mundane as the iconic, creating a series of prose poems that encapsulate seven pivotal moments in recent American history: the John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and John Lennon assassinations, the space shuttle Challenger disaster, the Columbine shootings, 9/11, and the death of Michael Jackson. While we've become accustomed to watching endless reruns of these tragic spectacles—often to the point of cliché—once rendered in text, they become unfamiliar, and revealing new dimensions emerge. Impartial reportage is revealed to be laced with subjectivity, bias, mystery, second-guessing, and, in many cases, white-knuckled fear. Part nostalgia, part myth, these words render pivotal moments in American history through the communal lens of media.

Media Buzz

Colbert Report - July 23, 2013