From the trauma of September 11th, through the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, to the aftermath of the Arab Spring and the environmental warning signs of climate change, this book reflects on the crises and terrifying events of the early 21st century and argues that a knowledge of tragedy from the works of Sophocles to Shakespeare to Samuel Beckett can help us understand them. Jennifer Wallace offers a cultural analysis of the tragic events of the past two decades with reference to a litany of key dramatic texts, including Aeschylus'
Oresteia
, Euripides'
Hecuba
,
Iphigenia in
Aulis
Trojan Women
and
Bacchae
, Homer's
Iliad
, Ibsen's
Emperor and Galilean
Enemy of the
People
, and Shakespeare's
Julius Caesar
Macbeth
King Lear
, among others.