Real Enemies

aw_product_id: 
32095697451
merchant_image_url: 
https://cdn.waterstones.com/bookjackets/large/9780/1909/9780190908560.jpg
merchant_category: 
Books
search_price: 
21.99
book_author_name: 
Kathryn S. Olmsted
book_type: 
Paperback
publisher: 
Oxford University Press Inc
published_date: 
09/05/2019
isbn: 
9780190908560
Merchant Product Cat path: 
Books > History > Regional & national history > Americas
specifications: 
Kathryn S. Olmsted|Paperback|Oxford University Press Inc|09/05/2019
Merchant Product Id: 
9780190908560
Book Description: 
Many Americans believe that their own government is guilty of shocking crimes. Government agents shot the president. They faked the moon landing. They stood by and allowed the murders of 2,400 servicemen in Hawaii. Although paranoia has been a feature of the American scene since the birth of the Republic, in Real Enemies Kathryn Olmsted shows that it was only in the twentieth century that strange and unlikely conspiracy theories became central to American politics. In particular, she posits World War I as a critical turning point and shows that as the federal bureaucracy expanded, Americans grew more fearful of the government itself-the military, the intelligence community, and even the President. Analyzing the wide-spread suspicions surrounding such events as Pearl Harbor, the JFK assassination, Watergate, and 9/11, Olmsted sheds light on why so many Americans believe that their government conspires against them, why more people believe these theories over time, and how real conspiracies-such as the infamous Northwoods plan-have fueled our paranoia about the governments we ourselves elect. This 10th Anniversary Edition includes a new epilogue on conspiracy theories and the 2016 election and its aftermath.

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