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The Paranoid Style in American Politics

By Richard Hofstadter
Penguin Classics
Series: Penguin Modern Classics
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Brief Description
The classic - and very funny - account of the dark side of American politics. American political life ... has served again and again as an arena for uncommonly angry minds. How can a country be captured by rumours, surreal conspiracy theories, and the most brazen... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$3200
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The classic - and very funny - account of the dark side of American politics.

American political life ... has served again and again as an arena for uncommonly angry minds.

How can a country be captured by rumours, surreal conspiracy theories, and the most brazen of conmen? The historian Richard Hofstadter asked these questions in the 1960s, amid fears of rising extremism in America. Yet his dazzling dissection of the paranoid worldview - a brew of overheated exaggeration, suspicion, and perceived victimhood, which can derail entire nations - is a lesson for the ages in the seductive politics of the irrational.

In an era where we feel assailed by endless paranoid public statements, Hofstadter's discussion of famous and obscure untruths, some of which have profoundly impacted American domestic and foreign policy, provides the antidote for the present day.

Series: Penguin Modern Classics

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780241802007

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 28 May 2026

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Penguin Classics

Audience: General / adult, Tertiary education, Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 22.0mm

Width: 129.0mm

Height: 197.0mm

Weight: 258g

Pages: 352

Collections

Education & Reference Father's Day Non-Fiction Penguin Books Penguin Classics Politics & Current Affairs Richard Hofstadter Series: Penguin Modern Classics

About the Author

Richard Hofstadter (1916-70) was the DeWitt Clinton Professor of American History at Columbia University and one of the great American historians and intellectuals. He won the Pulitzer Prize twice, for The Age of Reform and for Anti-Intellectualism in American Life.

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