What a delicious and dishy way to look at American history! Walker, who is an editor at Reason magazine makes the well documented case that paranoia isn’t a fringe activity for Americans; it’s part of our national DNA. It’s a provocative argument and a requires an even hand—too close to the subject and you line up with the vast number of writers concerned with proving or refuting assorted conspiracy theories. Too circumspect and you risk being another dry academic analysis.
Walker treads the line very nicely and the result is eye-opening, fun and smart. As the editor notes, Walker “has unearthed quite a trove of historically paranoid documents, and photographs of the relevant players.” We’re also treated to illustrations throughout. In the first part of this book he uses this information to outline categories of conspiracy theories and the second half he draws some conclusions about why assorted theories behind everything from Watergate to Birthers drive our national character.
Media for this is going to all the right places: NPR’s Weekend Edition with Scott Simon, Vice, CNN.com, Mother Jones, Reason magazine, The National Memo, C-Span’s Book TV, and American History magazine. PW not only gave the book a starred review but ran a nice interview with Walker entitled “Just Because You’re Paranoid Doesn’t Mean They’re Not After You.” Here’s a snippet:
You can learn a lot about a culture from what it’s afraid of. When a conspiracy theory catches on, it reveals some truths about the anxieties and experiences of the people who believe and repeat that story, whether or not it’s true. It’s no surprise, for instance, that people who feel like they’re losing control over their lives would be attracted to stories in which cabals are plotting to erode American liberty and sovereignty. Or that black Americans who have had to deal with high-handed or abusive treatment from white doctors would believe in a white plot to inject black babies with AIDS. Powerful people frequently have conspiracy theories, too: historians often have a hard time telling which slave rebellions were real and which ones were just imagined by nervous planters who couldn’t see two slaves talking without worrying that a plot was afoot. Add all these up and you get a panoramic portrait of the fears that have afflicted Americans in different times and places.”
“[A] superb analysis of American paranoia; fear of others and ourselves, he argues, has been a part of our national make-up since the country’s very inception. Walker smartly avoids taking sides—after all, ‘the world is filled with plots both petty and grand.’ Instead, he corrals conspiracy theories into five stables…. Walker’s means of attack are ingenious, and they allow him to make his points succinctly, often using popular films, like Rambo, to illustrate his points and add weight to his arguments. It all adds up to a terrific, measured, objective study of one of American culture’s most loaded topics.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
The United States of Paranoia: A Conspiracy Theory (9780062135551) by Jesse Walker. $25.99 hardcover. 8/20/13 on sale.
Advance Readers Edition 