“In 1998, intense media coverage of the horrific hate crime murders of Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. played a large role in cultivating, shaping, and directing the public and political response. Tracing the emotional exchange from news stories to the creation of law, the author calls for an approach to media and democratic politics that takes into account the role of affect in the political and legal life of the nation. ”

“[Petersen] breaks new ground by showing how national and local media coverage interact and how popular emotion and public legislation work together.”
 — John D. Peters, author of Courting the Abyss: Free Speech and the Liberal Tradition

“...engrossing and expertly-argued reading. Petersen gracefully blends theoretical investigations with narrative recountings of the two cases.”
 — Beth Loffreda, author of Losing Matt Shepard: Live and Politics in the Aftermath of Anti-Gay Murder

“Petersen grounds her study in a wide array of literature about topics including the ethics of mediating suffering, masculinity, gender, class, melodrama, liberalism, the public sphere, imagined communities, reason, and emotion. . . . Graduate students interested in cultural studies, gender and queer studies, and/or advocacy may find Petersen's book useful. ”
 — JHISTORY H-Net

“Petersen offers an impressive reading of media discourses illustrating the value of public feelings and how they can become animating forces in the production of civic action. ”
 — Great Plains Quarterly

“Petersen makes use of an intriguing thesis and presents an insightful source for journalism and broadcasting students. July 2011”
 — Library Journal