Terrified: How Anti-Muslim Fringe Organizations Became Mainstream

(Paperback)

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In July 2010, Terry Jones, the pastor of a small fundamentalist church in Florida, announced plans to burn two hundred Qur'ans on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Though he ended up canceling the stunt in the face of widespread public backlash, his threat sparked violent protests across the Muslim world that left at least twenty people

Reviews

Winner of the 2016 Distinguished Book Award, Sociology of Religion Section of the American Sociological Association Winner of the 2015 ARNOVA Award for Outstanding Book in Nonprofit and Voluntary Action Research Honorable Mention for the 2016 Charles Tilly Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Book Award, Collective Behavior and Social Movements Section of the American Sociological Association "The book not only lays bare the behind-the-scenes story of a momentous shift in public opinion, it employs cutting-edge computer analysis techniques applied to large archives of data to develop a new theoretical outlook, capable of making sense of the whole field of competing organizations struggling to shape public opinion, not just studying one or two the most successful ones. The result is not only a detailed account of a specific, significant, and also very pernicious example of cultural evolution, but also a case study in how to more rigorously study cultural evolution more generally in the future."--Paul Rosenberg, Salon "Bail quite effectively shows how and why anti-Muslim content and 'experts' worked their way into positions of prominence, even though they were not well funded or well connected in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. Terrified is highly recommended for all levels."--Choice "A fascinating exploration of the rising influence of anti- Muslim fringe organizations in the United States after September 11, 2001... This book represents a veritable methodological primer for researchers interested in measuring collective meaning."--Mary-Hunter McDonnell, Administrative Science Quarterly "Terrified is a major contribution to the scholarship on the public influence of anti-Muslin organizations and the role of the media in empowering them."--Todd Green, Political Science Quarterly "Bail's account is complex, nuanced, and quite persuasive. In fact, it is an outstanding example of long-form work in the emerging 'big data' genre. The seamless interweaving of qualitative and computational methods often distinguishes the best work in computational sociology. Bail's work is no exception... I expect that Terrified will be an essential guide to many storms brewing on the cultural horizon, and I am glad that Bail has given it to us."--Jacob G. Foster, American Journal of Sociology

Author Bio

Christopher Bail is assistant professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.