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Martin Harris teaches in the American Studies program at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He is the author of Poker & Pop Culture: Telling the Story of America’s Favorite Card Game (2019) and Leatherface vs. Tricky Dick: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre as Political Satire (2021).
""This volume offers something novel and taps into genres that span decades that the author ties to the era's relevant ongoing social and political situations, covering history, politics, film criticism, and sociology to understand various concepts that are vital for students across a variety of disciplines to grasp. This book is an exemplary guide to how to do just that.” Michael A. Allen, Professor of Political Science, Boise State University ""Using the archive of 1950s thru 2010s horror plus science fiction films, this book explores polarization in society, namely how and why Americans tend to divide into opposing groups and attach their identity to polarization rather than cohesion. Through these films, the author interrogates social polarization from a host of angles, including: race, class, gender, religious belief, politics, nationalisms, and sexuality. These angles promise to elucidate why Americans are attracted to basing their identity in segmented groups that are defined by (and act against) an “other.” As such, this is an incredibly timely book and the prominent place of polarization in American society today makes this book of great potential use in a number of classroom settings."" Paul C. Gutjahr, Professor of English, Indiana University
