A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America
Encyclopedia
A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America is a 2003 non-fiction
book written by Michael Barkun
, professor emeritus of political science
at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs
. Its publisher, the University of California Press
, and scholarly critics describe the book as the most comprehensive and authoritative examination of contemporary American conspiracism to date by a leading expert on the subject.
playing a key role in introducing individuals to beliefs once consigned to the outermost fringe of American political and religious life, Barkun points to the convergence of two phenomena that influences contemporary American conspiracism:
Notes
Bibliography
Index
wrote:
Reviews
Non-fiction
Non-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact...
book written by Michael Barkun
Michael Barkun
Michael Barkun is professor emeritus of political science at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, specializing in political extremism and the relationship between religion and violence...
, professor emeritus of political science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs
Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs
The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs is the public policy school of Syracuse University...
. Its publisher, the University of California Press
University of California Press
University of California Press, also known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish books and papers for the faculty of the University of California, established 25 years earlier in 1868...
, and scholarly critics describe the book as the most comprehensive and authoritative examination of contemporary American conspiracism to date by a leading expert on the subject.
Overview
Along with the InternetInternet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
playing a key role in introducing individuals to beliefs once consigned to the outermost fringe of American political and religious life, Barkun points to the convergence of two phenomena that influences contemporary American conspiracism:
- The rise of “improvisational millennialismMillennialismMillennialism , or chiliasm in Greek, is a belief held by some Christian denominations that there will be a Golden Age or Paradise on Earth in which "Christ will reign" for 1000 years prior to the final judgment and future eternal state...
” — a belief in an imminent destruction of the world and the creation of a new world as a result of the triumph of good over evil, which is independent from any single religious or secular tradition (e.g., Christian premillennialPremillennialismPremillennialism in Christian end-times theology is the belief that Jesus will literally and physically be on the earth for his millennial reign, at his second coming. The doctrine is called premillennialism because it holds that Jesus’ physical return to earth will occur prior to the inauguration...
dispensationalismDispensationalismDispensationalism is a nineteenth-century evangelical development based on a futurist biblical hermeneutic that sees a series of chronologically successive "dispensations" or periods in history in which God relates to human beings in different ways under different Biblical covenants.As a system,...
, Marxist historical materialismHistorical materialismHistorical materialism is a methodological approach to the study of society, economics, and history, first articulated by Karl Marx as "the materialist conception of history". Historical materialism looks for the causes of developments and changes in human society in the means by which humans...
, etc.) and indiscriminately syncretizes ideas from different traditions (e.g., Western esotericism, Eastern religions, New AgeNew AgeThe New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
movement, fringe scienceFringe scienceFringe science is scientific inquiry in an established field of study that departs significantly from mainstream or orthodox theories, and is classified in the "fringes" of a credible mainstream academic discipline....
, radical politicsPolitical radicalismThe term political radicalism denotes political principles focused on altering social structures through revolutionary means and changing value systems in fundamental ways...
, etc.). - The popularity of “stigmatizedSocial stigmaSocial stigma is the severe disapproval of or discontent with a person on the grounds of characteristics that distinguish them from other members of a society.Almost all stigma is based on a person differing from social or cultural norms...
knowledge” — claims to the truth that the claimants regard as verified (e.g., location hypotheses of AtlantisLocation hypotheses of AtlantisLocation hypotheses of Atlantis are various proposed real-world settings for the island of Atlantis, a lost civilization mentioned in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias, written about 360 B.C. In these dialogues, a character named Critias claims that an island called Atlantis was swallowed by...
, astrologyAstrologyAstrology consists of a number of belief systems which hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world...
, alchemyAlchemyAlchemy is an influential philosophical tradition whose early practitioners’ claims to profound powers were known from antiquity. The defining objectives of alchemy are varied; these include the creation of the fabled philosopher's stone possessing powers including the capability of turning base...
, folk medicineFolk medicine-Description:Refers to healing practices and ideas of body physiology and health preservation known to a limited segment of the population in a culture, transmitted informally as general knowledge, and practiced or applied by anyone in the culture having prior experience.All cultures and societies...
, alien abduction, extraterrestrial hypothesisExtraterrestrial hypothesisThe extraterrestrial hypothesis is the hypothesis that some unidentified flying objects are best explained as being extraterrestrial life or non-human aliens from other planets occupying physical spacecraft visiting Earth.-Etymology:...
for UFOsUnidentified flying objectA term originally coined by the military, an unidentified flying object is an unusual apparent anomaly in the sky that is not readily identifiable to the observer as any known object...
, suppressed cancer cures, etc.), despite the marginalization of those claims by the authoritative institutions that conventionally distinguish between knowledge and error (e.g., academiaAcademiaAcademia is the community of students and scholars engaged in higher education and research.-Etymology:The word comes from the akademeia in ancient Greece. Outside the city walls of Athens, the gymnasium was made famous by Plato as a center of learning...
, scientific communityScientific communityThe scientific community consists of the total body of scientists, its relationships and interactions. It is normally divided into "sub-communities" each working on a particular field within science. Objectivity is expected to be achieved by the scientific method...
, etc.).
Contents
Preface- The Nature of Conspiracy Belief
- Millennialism, Conspiracy, and Stigmatized Knowledge
- New World Order Conspiracies I: The New World Order and the Illuminati
- New World Order Conspiracies II: A World of Black Helicopters
- UFO Conspiracy Theories, 1975–1990
- UFOs Meet the New World Order: Jim Keith and David Icke
- Armageddon Below
- UFOs and the Search for Scapegoats I: Anti-Catholicism and Anti-Masonry
- UFOs and the Search for Scapegoats II: Anti-Semitism among the Aliens
- September 11: The Aftermath
- Conclusion: Millennialists from Outer Space
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Release details
- Hardcover: 255 pages
- Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (November 7, 2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN 9780520238053
- Paperback: 251 pages
- Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (May 4, 2006)
- Language: English
- ISBN 9780520248120
Reviews
In a February 2004 review, writer and political blogger Daniel PipesDaniel Pipes
Daniel Pipes is an American historian, writer, and political commentator. He is the founder and director of the Middle East Forum and its Campus Watch project, and editor of its Middle East Quarterly journal...
wrote:
See also
- ApocalypticismApocalypticismApocalypticism is the religious belief that there will be an apocalypse, a term which originally referred to a revelation of God's will, but now usually refers to belief that the world will come to an end time very soon, even within one's own lifetime...
- Conspiracy theoryConspiracy theoryA conspiracy theory explains an event as being the result of an alleged plot by a covert group or organization or, more broadly, the idea that important political, social or economic events are the products of secret plots that are largely unknown to the general public.-Usage:The term "conspiracy...
- Michael BarkunMichael BarkunMichael Barkun is professor emeritus of political science at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, specializing in political extremism and the relationship between religion and violence...
- MillennialismMillennialismMillennialism , or chiliasm in Greek, is a belief held by some Christian denominations that there will be a Golden Age or Paradise on Earth in which "Christ will reign" for 1000 years prior to the final judgment and future eternal state...
- New World Order (conspiracy theory)
- UFO conspiracy theoryUFO conspiracy theoryA UFO conspiracy theory is any one of many often overlapping conspiracy theories which argue that evidence of the reality of unidentified flying objects is being suppressed by various governments around the world...
External links
- University of California PressUniversity of California PressUniversity of California Press, also known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish books and papers for the faculty of the University of California, established 25 years earlier in 1868...
: http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/10011.php
-
- Chapter 5: http://www.ucpress.edu/excerpt.php?isbn=9780520248120#readchapter5
- Google Books: http://books.google.ca/books?id=LiwjVsNBw-cC&printsec=frontcover&dq=A+culture+of+conspiracy:+apocalyptic+visions+in+contemporary+America&hl=fr&ei=Z0E6TvTzKciqsQKl8LUr&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
- Amazon.comAmazon.comAmazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
: Hardcover http://www.amazon.com/dp/0520238052#reader_0520238052, Paperback http://www.amazon.com/Culture-Conspiracy-Apocalyptic-Contemporary-Comparative/dp/0520248120 - C-SpanC-SPANC-SPAN , an acronym for Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network, is an American cable television network that offers coverage of federal government proceedings and other public affairs programming via its three television channels , one radio station and a group of websites that provide streaming...
Video Library: http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/180937-2
- Chapter 5: http://www.ucpress.edu/excerpt.php?isbn=9780520248120#readchapter5
Reviews
- Pipes, DanielDaniel PipesDaniel Pipes is an American historian, writer, and political commentator. He is the founder and director of the Middle East Forum and its Campus Watch project, and editor of its Middle East Quarterly journal...
.[Michael Barkun on Old Conspiracies, New Beliefs]. The New York Sun (13 January 2004). Retrieved on 2011-07-12 - Boyer, Paul S.. The Strange World of Conspiracy Theories. The Christian CenturyThe Christian CenturyThe Christian Century is a Christian magazine based in Chicago, Illinois. Considered the flagship magazine of U.S. mainline Protestantism, the biweekly reports on religious news; comments on theological, moral, and cultural issues; and reviews books, movies, and music...
(27 July 2004). Retrieved on 2011-07-12 - Pratt, Ray. Review. The Montana Professor (Spring 2005). Retrieved on 2011-07-12
- Daschkea, Dereck. A Review of. Terrorism and Political Violence. Volume 18, Issue 4 (2006). Retrieved on 2011-07-12