Conspiracy theories : secrecy and power in American culture / / Mark Fenster

• Autore: Fenster Mark
• Pubblicazione: Minneapolis, : University of Minnesota Press, c2008
• Edizione: Rev. and updated ed.
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (x, 371 pages)
• Disciplina: 973
• Soggetto topico: Conspiracies - United States; Official secrets - United States
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references (p. 291-359) and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Intro -- Contents -- Preface -- Introduction: We're All Conspiracy Theorists Now -- I. Conspiracy as Politics -- 1. Theorizing Conspiracy Politics: The Problem of the "Paranoid Style" -- 2. When the Senator Met the Commander: From Pathology to Populism -- II. Conspiracy as Cultural Practice -- 3. Finding the Plot: Conspiracy Theory as Interpretation -- 4. Uncovering the Plot: Conspiracy Theory as Narrative -- 5. Plotting the Rush: Conspiracy, Community, and Play -- III. Conspiracy Communities -- 6. The Prophetic Plot: Millennialism and Christian Conspiracy Theory -- 7. A Failure of Imagination: Competing Narratives of 9/11 Truth -- Afterword: Conspiracy Theory, Cultural Studies, and the Trouble with Populism -- Notes -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- X -- Y -- Z.
• Sommario/riassunto: JFK, Karl Marx, the Pope, Aristotle Onassis, Howard Hughes, Fox Mulder, Bill Clinton, both George Bushes-all have been linked to vastly complicated global (or even galactic) intrigues. Two years after Mark Fenster first published Conspiracy Theories, the attacks of 9/11 stirred the imaginations of a new generation of believers. Before the black box from United 93 had even been found, there were theories put forth from the implausible to the offensive and outrageous. In this new edition of the landmark work, and the first in-depth look at the conspiracy communities that formed to debunk the 9/11 Commission Report, Fenster shows that conspiracy theories play an important role in U.S. democracy. Examining how and why they circulate through mass culture, he contends, helps us better understand society as a whole. Ranging from The Da Vinci Code to the intellectual history of Richard Hofstadter, he argues that dismissing conspiracy theories as pathological or marginal flattens contemporary politics and culture because they are-contrary to popular portrayal-an intense articulation of populism and, at their essence, are strident calls for a better, more transparent government. Fenster has demonstrated once again that the people who claim someone's after us are, at least, worth hearing.
• Titolo autorizzato: Conspiracy theories
• ISBN: 0-8166-6645-8
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Record Nr.: 9911096359803321
• Lo trovi qui: Univ. Federico II