Political Conspiracies in America: A Reader
"An interesting and important reader.... [It] offers a powerful thematic approach that will prove popular with students and instructors alike." —Jonathan Bean, Southern Illinois UniversityIn this primary source collection of conspiracy theories through six stages of US history, objective editors interested in exploring the phenomena argue that insecurities during rapidly changing times encourage suspicions and irrational conspiracies. The first stage looks at the post-Revolutionary era Federalist belief in a Jeffersonian conspiracy tosupport French radicalism, the Burr western land plot, and Masonic support of Andrew Jackson's presidency. Stage two surveys anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic, anti-Mormon, and anti-national bank sentiment. Stage three focuses on abolitionists and slave power conspiracies. The fourth stage reviews the Red Scare, robber baron capitalism, racism,anti-Semitism, and isolationism. Stage five concentrates on the Cold War era, space aliens, and the 1960s assassinations. Stage six looks at more contemporary issues related to globalization and the new world order, the AIDS conspiracy thesis, and terrorism. The editors touch on a few additional assorted conspiracies throughout. Thework compares favorably to Richard Hofstadter's The Paranoid Style in American Politics (CH, Mar'66), Robert Goldberg's Enemies Within, (Jun'02, 39-6001), and Mark Fenster's Conspiracy Theories (1999). Summing Up: Recommended. All academic levels/libraries.S. Prisco III, Stevens Institute of Technology, Choice, May 2009"[O]bjective editors interested in exploring the phenomena argue that insecurities during rapidly changing times encourage suspicions and irrational conspiracies.... Recommended." —Choice, May 2009