Don DeLillo's 10th novel, Mao II deals with terrorism and mass media that were also the themes explored in his novel, Falling Man.
"What terrorists gain, novelists lose. The degree to which they influence mass consciousness is the extent of our decline as shapers of sensibility and thought."
Considering that the work was published in 1991, the novel is considered to be ahead of its time in foreseeing an age of terror and its effect on America. One of the main themes explored in the novel is the "psychology of crowds" as seen in the mass cult wedding depicted in the first chapters. I liked Falling Man more but I think the reason for this is because I will never forget watching on television the actual falling down of the two towers and I saw how this changed the world.
As to the title of the novel...
"Bill had his picture taken not because he wanted to come out of hiding but because he wanted to hide more deeply, he wanted to revise the terms of seclusion, he needed the crisis of exposure to give him a powerful reason to intesify his concealment. Years ago there were stories that Bill was dead...they were not about Bill so much as people's need to make mysteries and legends. Now Bill was devising his own cycle of death and resurgence. It made Scott think of great leaders who regenerate their power by sropping out of sight and then staging messianic returns. Mao Zedong of course..."
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