The Perfect Fence: Untangling the Meanings of Barbed Wire (Connecting the Greater West Series)

Synopsis

In The Perfect Fence, Lyn Ellen Bennett And Scott Abbott Explore The Multiple Uses And Meanings Of Barbed Wire, A Technological Innovation That Contributes To America's Shift From A Pastoral Ideal To An Industrial One. They Survey The Vigorous Public Debate Over The Benign Or Infernal Fence, Investigate Legislative Attempts To Ban Or Regulate Wire Fences As A Result Of Public Outcry, And Demonstrate How The Industry Responded To Ameliorate The Image Of Its Barbed Product. Because Of The Rich Metaphorical Possibilities Suggested By A Fence That Controls Through Pain, Barbed Wire Developed Into An Important Motif In Works Of Literature From The Late Nineteenth Century To The Present Day. Early Advertisements Proclaimed That Barbed Wire Was The Perfect Fence, Keeping The Ins From Being Outs, And The Outs From Being Ins. Bennett And Abbott Conclude That While Barbed Wire Is Not The Perfect Fence Touted By Manufacturers, It Is Indeed A Meaningful Thing That Continues To Influence American Identities.--inside Flap. Constructing The Meaning Of Barbed Wire In Late Nineteenth-century America -- Infernal Machines: Debating The Meaning Of Barbed Wire Fences In The Media -- Secure And Safe Alike: Legislative Challenges And Inventive Responses -- The Perfect Fence: Selling Barbed Wire -- The Barbed Wire Motif In Literature -- Don't Fence Me In: Barbed Wire In The Western -- Intimate Fences: Barbed Wire In The New West -- The Thorny Fence: Reifying The Religious Metaphor -- I Helped Him Build His Own Fences: Cutting The Wire, Cutting The Lies. Lyn Ellen Bennett And Scott Abbott ; Foreword By Sterling Evans. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 249-261) And Index.