The Paranoid Style in American Politics by Richard Hofstadter

The Paranoid Style in American Politics by Richard Hofstadter

The classic and very funny account of the dark side of American politics

‘Calm, clear, dispassionate and devastating – and a joy to read’ Harper's
‘Brilliant and influential … his evisceration of populism has found a new generation of readers’ Guardian

‘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 that can derail entire nations – is a lesson for the ages in the seductive politics of the irrational.

In an era where we ourselves feel assailed by endless paranoid public statements it is comforting to read Hofstadter’s incisive refusal to see these as something new. In his discussion of famous and obscure untruths, some of which have profoundly impacted American domestic and foreign policy, he provides the antidote for the present day.

‘The Paranoid Style in American Politics’ was first published as an essay in Harper’s Magazine in late 1964 and has been argued over ever since.

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.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780241802007
ISBN 10	0241802008
Title	The Paranoid Style in American Politics
Author	Richard Hofstadter
Series	Penguin Modern Classics
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Penguin Classics
Year published	1111-05-28
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.