The United States of Paranoia: A Conspiracy Theory

Summary (from the publisher): Jesse Walker’s The United States of Paranoia presents a comprehensive history of conspiracy theories in American culture and politics, from the colonial era to the War on Terror.

The fear of intrigue and subversion doesn’t exist only on the fringes of society, but has always been part of our national identity. When such tales takes hold, Walker argues, they reflect the anxieties and experiences of the people who believe them, even if they say nothing true about the objects of the theories themselves.

With intensive research and a deadpan sense of humor, Jesse Walker’s The United States of Paranoia combines the rigor of real history with the punch of pulp fiction.
Review: I received an Advance Reader Copy from HarperCollins.

Jesse Walker's non-fiction account of the history of conspiracy theories in America gives a great overview of paranoia that has shaped both popular culture and politics in American history. In the first half of the book, five conspiracy narratives are explored including the Enemy Outside, the Enemy Within, the Enemy Below, the Enemy Above, and the Benevolent Conspiracy. These five narratives are grounded in historical examples from the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. The second half of the book then looks at how these stories have played out in the last half century with examples such as Watergate and the War on Terror. Walker proves that paranoia and conspiracy theories are not merely a concept for a few, but an integral influence on American mainstream life, and always have been.

The first half of this book really grabbed me, with historical stories I had never heard, and a well organized layout that made it easy to see the different types of conspiracy theories that had gripped our nation. I enjoyed reading examples such as John Sassamon, a native of the Massachuset tribe who was murdered, possibly as part of a conspiracy theory, which led to the bloody King Philip's War. Or the Salem witch trials, and fear of the enemy next door, infiltrating the community.

I was less impressed by the second half of this book, which was not as well organized and easy to follow as the first. It was composed of examples, which seemed randomly selected, rather than to prove a point such as the enemy below, above, etc. like the first half. I also lost interest in many of the examples of the second half, such as the chapter devoted to the Rambo movies. Maybe that's a personal choice, since I tend to have more interest in  historical details of our country's origins than poorly made movies of the 1980s.

In sum, Walker describes his book the best: "This is a book about America's demons. Many of those demons are imaginary, but all of them have truths to tell us. A conspiracy story that catches on becomes a form of folklore. It says something true about the anxieties and experiences of the people who believe and repeat it, even if it says nothing true about the objects of the theory itself" (15).

Stars: 3