In an interdisciplinary study of representations of 9/11 and the "war on terror" during the Bush era, David Holloway shows that culture often functioned as a vital resource for citizens attempting to make sense of momentous historical events that seemed well beyond their influence or control.

Holloway discusses representations of 9/11 and the war on terror in Hollywood film, novels, mass media, visual art and photography, political discourse, and revisionist historical accounts of the American "empire" created between the 11 September attacks and the Congressional midterm elections in 2006. He suggests that the culture of the period not only prompted international crises in security, governance, and law but also points to a "crisis" unfolding in the institutions and processes of US republican democracy.

Cultures of the War on Terror offers a cultural and ideological history of the period, showing how culture was used to debate, legitimize, qualify, contest, or repress discussion about the broader meanings of 9/11 and the war on terror.