Conspiracy Rising: Conspiracy Thinking and American Public Life

(Hardback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

This book offers a thoughtful analysis of how and why conspiracy thinking has become a popular mode of political discourse in the United States. How did conspiracy thinking become such a significant and surprisingly widely accepted form of political thinking in the United States What compels people to respond to devastating, unpredictable eventsterrorist acts, wars, natural disasters, economic upheavalswith the conviction that nothing is a coincidence, nothing is as it seems, and everything is connected Conspiracy Rising: Conspiracy Thinking and American Public Life argues that while outlandish paranoid theories themselves may seem nonsensical, the thread of conspiracy thinking throughout American history is a both a byproduct of our democratic form of government and a very real threat to it. From the Illuminati, the Knights Templar, and the Freemasons to the government hiding aliens and faking the moon landing; from the New World Order to the Obama "Birthers," the book explores the enduring popularity of a number of American conspiracy theories, showing how the conspiracy hysteria that may provoke disdain and apathy in the general public, can become a source of dangerous extremism.

Author Bio

Martha F. Lee is professor of political science at the University of Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Her published works include The Nation of Islam: An American Millenarian Movement. She is also the editor of Millennial Visions: Essays on Twentieth-Century Millenarianism, published by Praeger in 2000.