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The Paranoid Style in American Politics
Series: Penguin Modern Classics
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...
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Format: Paperback / softback
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The Paranoid Style in American Politics
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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 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.
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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
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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