The Popular Culture of Disaster: Exploring a New Dimension of Disaster Research

Abstract

In January of 2002, just 4 months after the tragic terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, the President of the United States delivered the annual State of the Union address. That speech contained chilling words about life in the post-9/11 era. Specifically, the President (2002) said, “The last time I spoke here, I expressed the hope that life would return to normal. In some ways, it has. In others, it never will.”