Confessional Crises and Cultural Politics in Twentieth-Century America

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Confessional Crises and Cultural Politics

1 Confession and Sexuality: True Story Versus Anthony Comstock

2 Confession and Class: A New True Story

3 Confession and Race: Civil Rights, Segregation, and the Murder of Emmett Till

4 Confession and Violence: William Styron’s Nat Turner

5 Confession and Religion: Jimmy Swaggart’s Secular Confession

6 Confession and Democracy: Clinton, Starr, and the Witch-Hunt Tradition of American Confession

Conclusion: James Frey and Twenty-First-Century Confessional Culture

Notes

Bibliography

Index

“Dave Tell is an excellent writer and thinker, incorporating provocative archival research and good storytelling, and his Confessional Crises is a welcome addition to any ongoing discussion of genre, confession, and cultural politics.”

—Daniel Patrick Overton, Southern Communication Journal