dementia americana
n.— «When Thaw’s attorney made the case that his client had been acting out of a condition he termed dementia Americana—a legitimate rage triggered by the desecration of a man’s home—a powerful nexus of concerns with national identity, patriarchy, class, and the public sphere emerged. Meanwhile (and most interestingly), Evelyn Nesbit Thaw became “the first person to capitalize on a scandal to become a film star.”» —“Headline Hollywood” Film Quarterly Summer, 2002. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
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