A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America Volume 15

by Michael Barkun

Book Overview

American society has changed dramatically since A Culture of Conspiracy was first published in 2001. In this revised and expanded edition, Michael Barkun delves deeper into America's conspiracy sub-culture, exploring the rise of 9/11 conspiracy theories, the "birther" controversy surrounding Barack Obama's American citizenship, and how the conspiracy landscape has changed with the rise of the Internet and other new media.

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• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0520276825
• ISBN13: 9780520276826
• Release Date: August 2013
• Publisher: University of California Press
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.06 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.9" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

FEMA is the secret government, agent Mulder

Michael Barkun is a professor of political science who studies fringe groups, usually on the far right. His most well known book is perhaps "Religion and the racist right", in which Barkun details the origins and strange beliefs of the Christian Identity movement. "A culture of conspiracy" is a broader book, which tries to make sense of the conspiracist and millenarian subcultures in general. The book succeeds quite well in its task, especially taking into consideration that the subject is vast and very unwieldy! "A culture of conspiracy" is both a scholarly analysis of contemporary conspiracy beliefs, and an overview of the most important conspiracy writers. David Icke is prominently featured. Barkun then attempts to back track the conspiracy theories to their original sources, a task easier said than done. One of Barkun's main points is that contemporary conspiracism and millennialism are highly eclectic, a phenomenon he calls "improvisational millennialism". Until the 1980's, millennialism was usually connected to very specific movements or ideologies, such as evangelical Christianity, Marxism or nationalism. Also, New World Order conspiracy beliefs were for a long time associated with a special kind of apocalyptic Christians (such as Pat Robertson) or with fringe groups on the far right (the John Birch Society, Nazis, etc). During the 1980's and the 1990's, all this changed. Today, millenarians and conspiracy believers freely use ideas from many different sources: Christianity, New Age, UFO beliefs, anti-Semitism, or the far right in general. Some even believe in a "fake" millennium, a phoney apocalypse staged by the conspirators! Nor are conspiracists necessarily connected to a sharply delineated organization. Rather, a whole subculture has developed, to a large extent fuelled by the Internet, where ideas can float around freely and make themselves felt without any organized movement at all. The most important development, according to Barkun, has been the introduction of New World Order beliefs (typical of the far right) into the UFO subculture, which tends to be apolitical and less stigmatized. By connecting their conspiracy theories with a belief in UFOs, far right-wing authors have gained a broader audience than previously possible. By a curious process, this blend of conspiracy theory and UFO beliefs then re-entered the conspiracist milieu, in the form of superconspiracies with space aliens at the apex. It should be noted that the UFO subculture is well established in the United States, and that millions of Americans take UFOs seriously. Also, many believe that the government known more about the UFOs than they are letting on. Indeed, it's remarkable that it took the conspiracists so long to discover this fertile ground! New Age ideas have also been combined with conspiracy beliefs. And New Age is a broad subculture with a certain degree of social respectability. By blending into the UFO and New Age milieus, millenarians and con

Mulder and Scully agree that you must read this book!

Michael Barkun of the Syracuse University Maxwell School of Journalism Barkun was selected the 2003 Distinguished Scholar by the Communal Studies Association in acknowledgement of his career of outstanding contributions to the field. So you can see right away that he's a lunatic. And the University of California Press -- well, need I say more? This is an excellent work by a distinguished scholar who has researched and published extensively on Millenarian and apocalyptic groups, political extremism, religious-based violence and conspiracy theories. I think it is the fact that "conspiracy theories" are usually lumped in there with terms like "extremism" and "apocalyptic" that cause so much rage among the theorists, but while the groups are not the same, they are social responses to similar stimuli. And more popular. Where once the land of black helicopters, government cabals, alien abductions and at least 30 conspiracy theories per assassination was populated by the wild-eyed or darkly suspicious few, now the phenomenon has woven its way into large and mainstream segments of American society. In fact, it sits in the cubicle next to me and married my cousin. Barkun helps us to understand why this is happening, and trust me, folks, we do need to know why this is happening. His work is lucid, well-documented and up to date. Furthermore, his goal is not to smash anyone's dreams of uncovering the REAL causes of 9/11. His work aims at helping us to understand why more and more of us think it's necessary -- or even possible -- for us to do so.

Great book

A solid, well researched book that covers a wide rage of subjects. This book is extensive. Shows how and why conspiracy ideas and conspiracy sub-culture is the way it is. Contains some of the best writing ever on these subjects. Shows how many of these ideas have developed and how weak they really are. The reaction of conspiracy minded people to this book and its ideas on their beliefs is no surprise. Some people don't like to have a mirror held up to them and see what their beliefs are really founded upon and how their thought process really work. An essential book for a time period that has become more paranoid than ever. Don't be fooled by some of the bad, cranky reviews here. Its a great book with a lot of thought poured into it and it proves it self time and again in the very writings and methods of conspiracy sub-culture.