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Reviews within it the twin identities ofthe frontier spirit and imperialism in its conquest over the Other. This overview ofMerish's argument merely hints at its complexity. She brings together many texts that are not widely known: I have noted a few ofthese, particularly the biographies by Cartwright and Keckley, but I have not had the space to address the many others she cites including novels by Eliza Farnham, Frances Harper, and awhole genre called the Mormon novel. Like many texts that are thematic and cultural in their approach, the amount ofterritory that Merish covers is both vast and extremely specific; consequently, the argument is often a bit diffuse. Although it has many strengths, the scholarship should be less broad in some ofits claims. For example, Merish says that shewill identify the discourses that promoted certain historical developments (2). In chapter two, she argues that the sentimental tradition incorporates a historical development she titles "pious materialism" (91). Yet the primary evidence the text presents for the widespread nature ofthis development among Protestants is a single, not widely known, text by Peter Cartwright, a Methodist. Despite this cavil, Merish's book offers the reader an opportunity to rethink sentimentalism, an important element ofnineteenth -century American social, political, and artistic culture. $fc Nicole Rafter. Shots in theMirror: Crime Films andSociety. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. 201p. A. Mary Murphy Red Deer College This book does an impressive job oforganizing a vast array ofoccasionally somewhat disparate materials in such a way that seldom is any struggle to control that material apparent. Rafter exhibits great care and patience with her information, being careful to define her terms, explain her choices, and acknowledge problems ofcategorization. Any cataloguing system has gaps and overlaps, but Rafter's criteria are always clearly stated and explained, potential points ofdisagreement addressed . Her methodical approach is admirably paced, never belaboring points, never drifting off into vague circularity, never boring with repetitiousness; the scholarship is dense and consistent.Thesleekcombination ofsubject, theory, tone, and methodology results in a bookwith wide appeal: movies and analysis systematically presented in approachable language. SPRING 2002 * ROCKY MOUNTAIN REVIEW * 107 In terms ofsubject there is, as we all know, a ravenous appetite for movies and anything to do with movies. Any book about film with Robert DeNiro on the cover is going to attract initial attention byvirtue ofDeNiro's personal power, but this particular book follows that attraction with solid and sustained substance, consisting ofcompelling arguments supported by a rich collection oftextual references , both print and film. The book lists 375 films cited, spanning the years from 1912 (TheMusketeersofPigAlley) to half-a-dozen tides from 1998. Although the book specifically speaks to crime films, Rafter is conscious ofa need to open the subject up to broader applications, suggesting an interaction between what might be deemed a very small category, as she defines it, and movies in general. In other words, her specific examination of crime movies has implications for the society to which she speaks. The book is able to support these implications because the discussions are grounded in social theory. Rafter is a criminologist, and, as the book cover explains , "examines the relationship between society and crime films from the perspectives ofcriminal justice, film historyand technique, and sociology."Thus, the book theorizes the content of film products and also considers what conditions produce a tendency to create such cultural products, suggesting what various film phenomena have to say about the societywhich produces them. The book blends film history with social history and practice through the interpretation offilm as historical document, in a way. As the tide suggests, crime films are mirrors, reflecting conditions more than creating them. One of the ways in which Rafter bridges perceptual and disciplinarygaps is bydrawing a parallel chart, for example, which lists values and qualities found in criminals and theirgood-citizen counterparts : lawlessness and conformity; sassy repartee and polite speech; wise guys and saps; adventureand routine (152), which clarifies the balances found in crime films and the societies which produce them. The theoretical foundations of the book are interdisciplinary, comfortably so, and this is what makes the book accessible to thinkers from a variety ofbackgrounds and interests. In spite ofall these threads...

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