In this seminar we will focus on the similarities between leisure and murder/death in American culture through examining why we consume violent historical events for entertainment. What is it about death and amusement that encapsulate how identity formation is based upon displacement and disorientation? The reading list will (potentially) include the following novels: In Cold Blood by Truman Capote; The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz; The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford by Ron Hansen; Flight by Sherman Alexie; and Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison. Films we may watch for the course: Capote and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.