Portents of the Real

Praise

“What we have here, then, is a political analysis, but one that goes beyond traditional critique and is more subtle and intelligent in that it ferrets out the weaknesses and identifies the fault lines of the system by an oblique approach that ultimately detects the ways in which that system destroys itself—with the torturer showing through the victim, the Real showing through in the appearance, in keeping with a set of rules that is both secret and fundamental. ‘What goes around comes around.’”—Jean Baudrillard

“The lesson of Mao was right: revolution is, at its most radical, a cultural revolution. It is sad that, today, we have to learn this lesson from the neo-con Bush-men. However, Susan Willis’s new book saves the critical credentials of cultural studies. Its analysis of 9/11 as a cultural phenomenon does not deal with an aspect which is less important than its directly political or military side—on the contrary, it strikes at the very heart of the ongoing struggle. This book is therefore a must for everybody who simply wants to understand what the hell is going on today. To ignore it means you want to persist in your blessed ignorance—at your own risk and peril!”—Slavoj Žižek