"The book is lean and not overly theoretically dense. It will appeal to the critically inclined for its original appropriation of Kant and intelligent commentary on temporality and politics . . . What is most striking and enduring about the work is that Shapiro seems to have offered the first figuration of a novel way to theorize individual and collective trauma as political without relying on a primary psychoanalytic dimension or its correlate literatures." - Mat Keel (AAG Review of Books) "After reading Michael J. Shapiro’s book, I was hardpressed to imagine a more timely work in political theory. . . . The <i>Political Sublime</i> is not only timely but also the equal of the best examples of recent scholarship in the growing field of politics and aesthetics." - Morton Schoolman (Perspectives on Politics)
Introduction. The Insistence of the Sublime1
1. When the Earth Moves: Toward a Political Sublime 13
2. The Racial Sublime 41
3. The Nuclear Sublime 68
4. The Industrial Sublime 101
5. The 9/11 Terror Sublime 133
Afterword. It's All About Duration 169
Notes 173
Bibliography 193
Index 209