Car Crash Culture

This book explores the grim underside of America's cult of the automobile and the frequently conspiratorial speculations that arise whenever people die in cars. Looking at fatal celebrity car accidents and other examples of death by automobile through personal memoir and forensic reports, cultural critics ponder people's fascination with car crashes. They explore car crash conspiracy theories, the automobile as a site of murder, car crash films, and the notion of the "accident." The book features original essays by such underground icons as Kenneth Anger and Adam Parfrey. Essays cover the deaths of Albert Camus, Jackson Pollock, James Dean, Jayne Mansfield, Princess Diana, Princess Grace, and Mary Jo Kopechine, amongst others.

Mikita Brottman is Assistant Professor of Literature at the Maryland Institute College of Art and has published books on horror films, cult cinema, and the history of cannibalism. She writes for a number of alternative and underground publications.