Enemies within : the culture of conspiracy in modern America / Robert A. Goldberg.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Goldberg, Robert Alan, 1949-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Conspiracies--United States--History.

Conspiracies.

United States--Social conditions.

United States.

United States--Politics and government.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (1 online resource (xiv, 354 p.) ) ill., facsims.

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University, c2001.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

There is a hunger for conspiracy news in America. Hundreds of Internet websites, magazines, newsletters, even entire publishing houses, disseminate information on invisible enemies and their secret activities, subversions, and coverups. Those who suspect conspiracies behind events in the news-the crash of TWA Flight 800, the death of Marilyn Monroe-join generations of Americans, from the colonial period to the present day, who have entertained visions of vast plots. In this enthralling book Robert Goldberg focuses on five major conspiracy theories of the past half-century, examining how they became widely popular in the United States and why they have remained so. In the post-World War II decades conspiracy theories have become more numerous, more commonly believed, and more deeply embedded in our culture, Goldberg contends. He investigates conspiracy theories regarding the Roswell UFO incident, the Communist threat, the rise of the Antichrist, the assassination of President John Kennedy, and the Jewish plot against black America, in each case taking historical, social, and political environments into account. Conspiracy theories are not merely the products of a lunatic fringe, the author shows. Rather, paranoid rhetoric and thinking are disturbingly central in America today. With media validation and dissemination of conspiracy ideas, and federal government behavior that damages public confidence and faith, the ground is fertile for conspiracy thinking.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Preface

Chapter 1. An American Tradition

Chapter 2. The Master Conspiracy

Chapter 3. The Rise of the Antichrist

Chapter 4. The View from the Grassy Knoll

Chapter 5. Jewish Devils and the War on Black America

Chapter 6. The Roswell Incident

Chapter 7. Mainstreaming Conspiracism

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786611731069

9781281731067

1281731064

9780300132946

0300132948

OCLC:

1024051648