The Assassination of Theo van Gogh

“A brilliant little gem of a work. . . .” - Jeffrey C. Alexander, British Journal of Sociology

“Exceedingly readable and rousing. . . This book is to be highly recommended, especially for researchers and students desperately trying to keep pace with the remarkable insights being generated by Eyerman and his colleagues at Yale. This well-crafted book repays close reading and will no doubt stimulate further research.” - Eric Taylor Woods, Social Identities

“In this part crime thriller, part cultural theory exploration, Eyerman examines possible explanations for the murder. . . . In an interesting twist, Eyerman lends much discussion as to whether to classify the murder as a hate crime or as a media performance, moral panic or an artistic transgression on account of the sheer media attention and coverage generated. It is in the intersection of race relations and artistic interest that a social drama quickly becomes a cultural trauma and vice-versa. As such, Eyerman employs a range of analytic conventions through which to interpret the assassination – a performance, a mass media event, and a social/cultural drama.”
- Ethnicity and Race in a Changing World

“This volume is an important addition to current debates about multiculturalism and religious and cultural diversity. It challenges common-sense readings of the key questions and is suggestive of the need for more in-depth empirical research as well as the need for theoretical reflection and debate. More importantly it suggests that the current preoccupations and concerns about the limits and contradictions of multiculturalism may also provide a basis for more serious and nuanced political debate about how we can best move forward.” - John Solomos, Ethnic and Racial Studies

“Ron Eyerman has combined his two exquisite skills of an exceptionally thorough researcher and a consummate theorist to produce a uniquely enlightening study of the intricate mechanism which—in our times of the frailty of social setting, acute public uncertainty, and heightened susceptibility to moral panics—leads to the production of ‘traumatic events,’ subsequently deployed as catalysts in the reshaping of public memory and reinterpretation of collective identities. A masterly study of one of the most neuralgic phenomena in contemporary culture, bound to inform and direct our efforts to comprehend its dynamics.” - Zygmunt Bauman, Professor Emeritus, University of Leeds and University of Warsaw

“Ron Eyerman has produced a theoretically sophisticated analysis of the murder of Theo van Gogh, evoking themes of globalization, immigration, free speech, law and justice, gender relations, journalism and the media, political tolerance, and multiculturalism, all of which are at the center of debates in the contemporary social sciences. This is an important book.” - Robin Wagner-Pacifici, author of The Moro Morality Play: Terrorism as Social Drama