Includes bibliographical references and index.

From American flag decals and replicas of the World Trade Center to an emotionally fueled advertising campaign for The New York times, the marketing and commodification of September 11 reveals the contradictory processes by which consumers in the U.S. (and around the world) communicate and construct national identity through cultural and symbolic goods. Contributed essays take critical stock of the role that consumer goods, media and press outlets, commercial advertising, marketers, and corporate public relations have played in shaping cultural memory of a national tragedy.

Introduction: Consuming of 9/11 / Dana Heller -- Wounded nation, broken time: [trauma, tourism, and the selling of Ground Zero] / James Trimarco & Molly Hurley Depret -- "Chosen to be witness": the exceptionalism of 9/11 / Oyvind Vagnes -- Advertisements for itself: The New York Times, Norman Rockwell, and the New Patriotism / Francis Frascina -- The comfort zone : Japanese mass media and the meaning of September 11 / Yoneyuki Sugita -- Entertainment wars: television culture after 9/11 / Lynn Spigel -- The country connection : country music, 9/11, and the war on terrorism / William Hart -- "Your flag decal won't get you into heaven anymore": U.S. consumers, Wal-Mart, and the commodification of patriotism / Jennifer Scanlon -- Mourning, monomyth, and memorabilia: consumer logics of collecting 9/11 / Mick Broderick and Mark Gibson -- Social fear and the Terrorism survival guide / Joe Lockard -- Home invasion and Hollywood cinema: David Fincher's Panic room / Bianca Nielsen -- Cynical nationalism / Thomas Foster.