American Conspiracy Theories

American Conspiracy Theories PDF Author: Joseph E. Uscinski
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199351813
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 235

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Book Description
Conspiracies theories are some of the most striking features in the American political landscape: the Kennedy assassination, aliens at Roswell, subversion by Masons, Jews, Catholics, or communists, and modern movements like Birtherism and Trutherism. But what do we really know about conspiracy theories? Do they share general causes? Are they becoming more common? More dangerous? Who is targeted and why? Who are the conspiracy theorists? How has technology affected conspiracy theorising? This book offers the first century-long view of these issues.

Conspiracy Theories

Conspiracy Theories PDF Author: Mark Fenster
Publisher: U of Minnesota Press
ISBN: 0816632421
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 315

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Book Description
JFK, Karl Marx, the Pope, Aristotle Onassis, Queen Elizabeth II, Howard Hughes, Fox Mulder, Bill Clinton -- all have been linked to vastly complicated global (or even galactic) intrigues. In this enlightening tour of conspiracy theories, Mark Fenster guides readers through this shadowy world and analyzes its complex role in American culture and politics. Fenster argues that conspiracy theories are a form of popular political interpretation and contends that understanding how they circulate through mass culture helps us better understand our society as a whole. To that end, he discusses Richard Hofstadter's The Paranoid Style in American Politics, the militia movement, The X-Files, popular Christian apocalyptic thought, and such artifacts of suspicion as The Turner Diaries, the Illuminatus! trilogy, and the novels of Richard Condon. Fenster analyzes the "conspiracy community" of radio shows, magazine and book publishers, Internet resources, and role-playing games that promote these theories. In this world, the very denial of a conspiracy's existence becomes proof that it exists, and the truth is always "out there." He believes conspiracy theory has become a thrill for a bored subculture, one characterized by its members' reinterpretation of "accepted" history, their deep cynicism about contemporary politics, and their longing for a utopian future. Fenster's progressive critique of conspiracy theories both recognizes the secrecy and inequities of power in contemporary politics and economics and works toward effective political engagement. Probing conspiracy theory's tendencies toward scapegoating, racism, and fascism, as well as Hofstadter's centrist acceptance of a postwar American"consensus, " he advocates what conspiracy theory wants but cannot articulate: a more inclusive, engaging political culture.

Conspiracy Theories and Other Dangerous Ideas

Conspiracy Theories and Other Dangerous Ideas PDF Author: Cass R. Sunstein
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1476726639
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
A collection of controversial essays touches upon an array of issues, from marriage equality and conspiracy theories to animal rights.

Conspiracy Theories

Conspiracy Theories PDF Author: Joseph E Uscinski
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1538173263
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 247

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Book Description
The second edition, updated throughout and now including Covid-19 and the 2020 presidential election and aftermath, introduces students to the research into conspiracy theories and the people who propagate and believe them. In doing so, it addresses the psychological, sociological, and political sources of conspiracy theorizing.

Secrets, Plots & Hidden Agendas

Secrets, Plots & Hidden Agendas PDF Author: Paul T. Coughlin
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780830816248
Category : Conspiracies
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Paul Coughlin summarizes the main ideas conspiracy theorists have about a one-world government, the role of the media, endtimes teaching and the Jewish community, offering clear, objective data about secret plots.

The Philosophy of Conspiracy Theories

The Philosophy of Conspiracy Theories PDF Author: M R. X. Dentith
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1003859054
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 215

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Book Description
This book presents state of the art philosophical work on conspiracy theory research that brings in sharp focus on central and important insights concerning the supposed irrationality of conspiracy theory and conspiracy theory belief, while also proposing several novel solutions to long standing issues in the broader academic debate on these things called ‘conspiracy theories’. It features a critical history of conspiracy theory theory, emphasising the role of the ‘first generation’ of philosophers in conspiracy theory research. This book also includes discussions of a range of key issues such as: What counts as conspiracy theory? Who counts as a conspiracy theorist? How are these terms variously understood by academics and the wider public, and Are conspiracy theories automatically suspect, and is it ever reasonable to be a conspiracy theorist? The book then builds upon that work by looking at how people’s political views affect both the conspiracy theories they believe and their beliefs about conspiracy theories; how we might defend conspiracy theorising without endorsing mad, bad or dangerous conspiracy theories; and contains several proposals for unifying conspiracy theory research under one theoretical framework: particularism. This volume will be a key resource for philosophers and social scientists interested in recent work on the philosophy of conspiracy theory theory and its implications for conspiracy theory research. It will also appeal to members of the public, who want to know what, if anything, is wrong with these things called “conspiracy theories”. It was originally published as a special issue of Social Epistemology.

Conspiracy Theories

Conspiracy Theories PDF Author: Kate Tuckett
Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group
ISBN: 9780425205273
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
Exposes famous and infamous conspiracy theories throughout history, including the JFK Assassination, Area 51, the death of Princess Diana, 9/11, and the Men in Black.

American Conspiracy Theories

American Conspiracy Theories PDF Author: Joseph E. Uscinski
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199351813
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 235

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Book Description
Conspiracies theories are some of the most striking features in the American political landscape: the Kennedy assassination, aliens at Roswell, subversion by Masons, Jews, Catholics, or communists, and modern movements like Birtherism and Trutherism. But what do we really know about conspiracy theories? Do they share general causes? Are they becoming more common? More dangerous? Who is targeted and why? Who are the conspiracy theorists? How has technology affected conspiracy theorising? This book offers the first century-long view of these issues.

The Stigmatization of Conspiracy Theory since the 1950s

The Stigmatization of Conspiracy Theory since the 1950s PDF Author: Katharina Thalmann
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429670478
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 214

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Book Description
Are conspiracy theories everywhere and is everyone a conspiracy theorist? This ground-breaking study challenges some of the widely shared assessments in the scholarship about a perceived mainstreaming of conspiracy theory. It claims that conspiracy theory underwent a significant shift in status in the mid-20th century and has since then become highly visible as an object of concern in public debates. Providing an in-depth analysis of academic and media discourses, Katharina Thalmann is the first scholar to systematically trace the history and process of the delegitimization of conspiracy theory. By reading a wide range of conspiracist accounts about three central events in American history from the 1950s to 1970s – the Great Red Scare, the Kennedy assassination, and the Watergate scandal – Thalmann shows that a veritable conspiracist subculture emerged in the 1970s as conspiracy theories were pushed out of the legitimate marketplace of ideas and conspiracy theory became a commodity not unlike pornography: alluring in its illegitimacy, commonsensical, and highly profitable. This will be of interest to scholars and researchers interested in American history, culture and subcultures, as well, of course, to those fascinated by conspiracies.

Web of Conspiracy

Web of Conspiracy PDF Author: James F. Broderick
Publisher: Information Today, Inc.
ISBN: 9780910965811
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
From 9/11 to Roswell, from Princess Di to the Grassy Knoll and beyond, journalists James F. Broderick and Darren W. Miller (Consider the Source) explore more than 20 of the worlds most intriguing conspiracy theories. They examine the facts surrounding each theory, present prevailing and lesser-known arguments, and point to must-see Web sites that advocate, speculate, and debunk. Web of Conspiracy is the ultimate guide for Internet-connected conspiracy theorists, buffs, and researchers and an eye-opening book for anyone who think hes heard it all.

Conspiracy Encyclopedia

Conspiracy Encyclopedia PDF Author: Thom Burnett
Publisher: Franz Steiner Verlag
ISBN: 9781843403814
Category : Conspiracies
Languages : en
Pages : 638

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Book Description
Conspiracies are everywhere. they are the lifeblood of politics, business and our daily lives. this truly international and all-embracing encyclopedia explains the details of the world's major popular conspiracies, listing them chronologically under subject matter and cross-referencing them continually (because so many conspiracy theories interact on some level). Conspiracies are often international in their sweep and their impact. the brutal stabbing of Julius Caesar (the conspiracy which has defined political assassinations ever since) plunged the Roman Empire into civil war, which then engulfed much of the known western world. More recently the Cambridge spies (Philby, Blunt, MacLean and Burgess) helped Russia throughout WWII and then re-defined the Cold War afterwards, Philby's defection casting a 30-year shadow over CIA/Anglo-American relations. though conspiracies define our everyday lives, there is no body of serious academic research to understand their role, nature or defining characteristics. Most historians prefer to adhere to the cock-up theory of history, in which everything happens by accident or incompetence. Although this view is favoured by academics and historians, it is rejected by a large part of the general public who prefer the evidence of their own lives. However they consume their media, what they see is a mesh of conspiracies that define the texture of their everyday lives, often for the worst. Most people believe that there is a grain of truth in most theories about conspiracies. this book is for them.