Empire of Conspiracy

Empire of Conspiracy

Author: Timothy Melley

Publisher: Cornell University Press

Published: 2016-12-01

Total Pages: 252

ISBN-13: 1501713000

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Why, Timothy Melley asks, have paranoia and conspiracy theory become such prominent features of postwar American culture? In Empire of Conspiracy, Melley explores the recent growth of anxieties about thought-control, assassination, political indoctrination, stalking, surveillance, and corporate and government plots. At the heart of these developments, he believes, lies a widespread sense of crisis in the way Americans think about human autonomy and individuality. Nothing reveals this crisis more than the remarkably consistent form of expression that Melley calls "agency panic"—an intense fear that individuals can be shaped or controlled by powerful external forces. Drawing on a broad range of forms that manifest this fear—including fiction, film, television, sociology, political writing, self-help literature, and cultural theory—Melley provides a new understanding of the relation between postwar American literature, popular culture, and cultural theory. Empire of Conspiracy offers insightful new readings of texts ranging from Joseph Heller's Catch-22 to the Unabomber Manifesto, from Vance Packard's Hidden Persuaders to recent addiction discourse, and from the "stalker" novels of Margaret Atwood and Diane Johnson to the conspiracy fictions of Thomas Pynchon, William Burroughs, Don DeLillo, and Kathy Acker. Throughout, Melley finds recurrent anxieties about the power of large organizations to control human beings. These fears, he contends, indicate the continuing appeal of a form of individualism that is no longer wholly accurate or useful, but that still underpins a national fantasy of freedom from social control.


Book Synopsis Empire of Conspiracy by : Timothy Melley

Download or read book Empire of Conspiracy written by Timothy Melley and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2016-12-01 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why, Timothy Melley asks, have paranoia and conspiracy theory become such prominent features of postwar American culture? In Empire of Conspiracy, Melley explores the recent growth of anxieties about thought-control, assassination, political indoctrination, stalking, surveillance, and corporate and government plots. At the heart of these developments, he believes, lies a widespread sense of crisis in the way Americans think about human autonomy and individuality. Nothing reveals this crisis more than the remarkably consistent form of expression that Melley calls "agency panic"—an intense fear that individuals can be shaped or controlled by powerful external forces. Drawing on a broad range of forms that manifest this fear—including fiction, film, television, sociology, political writing, self-help literature, and cultural theory—Melley provides a new understanding of the relation between postwar American literature, popular culture, and cultural theory. Empire of Conspiracy offers insightful new readings of texts ranging from Joseph Heller's Catch-22 to the Unabomber Manifesto, from Vance Packard's Hidden Persuaders to recent addiction discourse, and from the "stalker" novels of Margaret Atwood and Diane Johnson to the conspiracy fictions of Thomas Pynchon, William Burroughs, Don DeLillo, and Kathy Acker. Throughout, Melley finds recurrent anxieties about the power of large organizations to control human beings. These fears, he contends, indicate the continuing appeal of a form of individualism that is no longer wholly accurate or useful, but that still underpins a national fantasy of freedom from social control.


Conspiracy for Empire

Conspiracy for Empire

Author: Luzviminda Bartolome Francisco

Publisher:

Published: 1985

Total Pages: 452

ISBN-13:

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Book Synopsis Conspiracy for Empire by : Luzviminda Bartolome Francisco

Download or read book Conspiracy for Empire written by Luzviminda Bartolome Francisco and published by . This book was released on 1985 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:


9/11 and American Empire, Volume 1

9/11 and American Empire, Volume 1

Author: David Ray Griffin

Publisher: Olive Branch Press

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13:

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Were the military and the FAA really that incompetent? Were our intelligence-gathering agencies really in the dark about 9/11? How could so much go wrong at once, in the world's strongest and most technologically sophisticated country? Both the government and the mainstream media have tried to portray the 9/11 truth movement as led by people who can be dismissed as "conspiracy theorists." This volume shows this caricature to be untrue. Coming from different academic disciplines as well as from different parts of the world, the authors are united In the conviction that the official story about 9/11 is a huge deception manufactured to extend Imperial control at home and abroad.


Book Synopsis 9/11 and American Empire, Volume 1 by : David Ray Griffin

Download or read book 9/11 and American Empire, Volume 1 written by David Ray Griffin and published by Olive Branch Press. This book was released on 2007 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Were the military and the FAA really that incompetent? Were our intelligence-gathering agencies really in the dark about 9/11? How could so much go wrong at once, in the world's strongest and most technologically sophisticated country? Both the government and the mainstream media have tried to portray the 9/11 truth movement as led by people who can be dismissed as "conspiracy theorists." This volume shows this caricature to be untrue. Coming from different academic disciplines as well as from different parts of the world, the authors are united In the conviction that the official story about 9/11 is a huge deception manufactured to extend Imperial control at home and abroad.


Conspiracy

Conspiracy

Author: Ryan Holiday

Publisher: Profile Books

Published: 2018-03-01

Total Pages: 357

ISBN-13: 178283463X

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Conspiracy theories are legion. Conspiracies are rare. And of the few that do exist, fewer are ever discovered, let alone explained. This story is the exception. In 2016, media giant Gawker was forced to declare bankruptcy after a $140 million dollar judgment in court over an illegally recorded sex tape of Hulk Hogan. The case was no accident: it was the result of a nearly decade-long plot masterminded by Facebook and Paypal billionaire Peter Thiel. With exclusive access to all the key players, Ryan Holiday takes us behind the scenes of this extraordinary and at times surreal story, and transforms the events into both a dissection of that controversial methodology - conspiracy - and an eye-opening cautionary tale on the use, abuse and consequences of power and secrecy in the modern age.


Book Synopsis Conspiracy by : Ryan Holiday

Download or read book Conspiracy written by Ryan Holiday and published by Profile Books. This book was released on 2018-03-01 with total page 357 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Conspiracy theories are legion. Conspiracies are rare. And of the few that do exist, fewer are ever discovered, let alone explained. This story is the exception. In 2016, media giant Gawker was forced to declare bankruptcy after a $140 million dollar judgment in court over an illegally recorded sex tape of Hulk Hogan. The case was no accident: it was the result of a nearly decade-long plot masterminded by Facebook and Paypal billionaire Peter Thiel. With exclusive access to all the key players, Ryan Holiday takes us behind the scenes of this extraordinary and at times surreal story, and transforms the events into both a dissection of that controversial methodology - conspiracy - and an eye-opening cautionary tale on the use, abuse and consequences of power and secrecy in the modern age.


Conspiracy Theories in the United States and the Middle East

Conspiracy Theories in the United States and the Middle East

Author: Michael Butter

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2014-08-19

Total Pages: 436

ISBN-13: 3110372991

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Conspiracy Theories in the United States and the Middle East is the first book to approach conspiracy theorizing from a decidedly comparative and interdisciplinary perspective. Whereas previous studies have engaged with conspiracy theories within national frameworks only, this collection of essays draws attention to the fact that conspiracist visions are transnational narratives that travel between and connect different cultures. It focuses on the United States and the Middle East because these two regions of the world are entangled in manifold ways and conspiracy theories are currently extremely prominent in both. The contributors to the volume are scholars of Middle Eastern Studies, Anthropology, History, Political Science, Cultural Studies, and American Studies, who approach the subject from a variety of different theories and methodologies. However, all of them share the fundamental assumption that conspiracy theories must not be dismissed out of hand or ridiculed. Usually wrong and frequently dangerous, they are nevertheless articulations of and distorted responses to needs and anxieties that must be taken seriously. Focusing on individual case studies and displaying a high sensitivity for local conditions and the cultural environment, the essays offer a nuanced image of the workings of conspiracy theories in the United States and the Middle East.


Book Synopsis Conspiracy Theories in the United States and the Middle East by : Michael Butter

Download or read book Conspiracy Theories in the United States and the Middle East written by Michael Butter and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2014-08-19 with total page 436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Conspiracy Theories in the United States and the Middle East is the first book to approach conspiracy theorizing from a decidedly comparative and interdisciplinary perspective. Whereas previous studies have engaged with conspiracy theories within national frameworks only, this collection of essays draws attention to the fact that conspiracist visions are transnational narratives that travel between and connect different cultures. It focuses on the United States and the Middle East because these two regions of the world are entangled in manifold ways and conspiracy theories are currently extremely prominent in both. The contributors to the volume are scholars of Middle Eastern Studies, Anthropology, History, Political Science, Cultural Studies, and American Studies, who approach the subject from a variety of different theories and methodologies. However, all of them share the fundamental assumption that conspiracy theories must not be dismissed out of hand or ridiculed. Usually wrong and frequently dangerous, they are nevertheless articulations of and distorted responses to needs and anxieties that must be taken seriously. Focusing on individual case studies and displaying a high sensitivity for local conditions and the cultural environment, the essays offer a nuanced image of the workings of conspiracy theories in the United States and the Middle East.


Conspiracy Theories and the People Who Believe Them

Conspiracy Theories and the People Who Believe Them

Author: Joseph E. Uscinski

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2018-10-16

Total Pages: 384

ISBN-13: 0190844094

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Conspiracy theories are inevitable in complex human societies. And while they have always been with us, their ubiquity in our political discourse is nearly unprecedented. Their salience has increased for a variety of reasons including the increasing access to information among ordinary people, a pervasive sense of powerlessness among those same people, and a widespread distrust of elites. Working in combination, these factors and many other factors are now propelling conspiracy theories into our public sphere on a vast scale. In recent years, scholars have begun to study this genuinely important phenomenon in a concerted way. In Conspiracy Theories and the People Who Believe Them, Joseph E. Uscinski has gathered forty top researchers on the topic to provide both the foundational tools and the evidence to better understand conspiracy theories in the United States and around the world. Each chapter is informed by three core questions: Why do so many people believe in conspiracy theories? What are the effects of such theories when they take hold in the public? What can or should be done about the phenomenon? Combining systematic analysis and cutting-edge empirical research, this volume will help us better understand an extremely important, yet relatively neglected, phenomenon.


Book Synopsis Conspiracy Theories and the People Who Believe Them by : Joseph E. Uscinski

Download or read book Conspiracy Theories and the People Who Believe Them written by Joseph E. Uscinski and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-10-16 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Conspiracy theories are inevitable in complex human societies. And while they have always been with us, their ubiquity in our political discourse is nearly unprecedented. Their salience has increased for a variety of reasons including the increasing access to information among ordinary people, a pervasive sense of powerlessness among those same people, and a widespread distrust of elites. Working in combination, these factors and many other factors are now propelling conspiracy theories into our public sphere on a vast scale. In recent years, scholars have begun to study this genuinely important phenomenon in a concerted way. In Conspiracy Theories and the People Who Believe Them, Joseph E. Uscinski has gathered forty top researchers on the topic to provide both the foundational tools and the evidence to better understand conspiracy theories in the United States and around the world. Each chapter is informed by three core questions: Why do so many people believe in conspiracy theories? What are the effects of such theories when they take hold in the public? What can or should be done about the phenomenon? Combining systematic analysis and cutting-edge empirical research, this volume will help us better understand an extremely important, yet relatively neglected, phenomenon.


Theory Conspiracy

Theory Conspiracy

Author: Frida Beckman

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2023-09-08

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 100095806X

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Theory Conspiracy provides a state-of-the-art collection that takes stage on the meeting and/or battlegrounds between conspiracy theory and theory-asconspiracy. By deliberately scrambling the syntax—conspiracy theory cum theory conspiracy—it seeks to open a set of reflections on the articulation between theory and conspiracy that addresses how conspiracy might rattle the sense of theory as such. In this sense, the volume also inevitably stumbles on the recent debates on postcritique. The suspicion that our ways of reading in the humanities have been far too suspicious, if not paranoid, has gained considerable attention in a humanities continuously questioned as superfluous at best and leftist and dangerous at worst. The chapters in this volume all approach this problematic from different angles. It features clear engaging writing by a set of contributors who have published extensively on questions of paranoia, conspiracy theory, and/or the state of theory today. This collection will appeal to readers interested in conspiracy theories, critical theory, and the future of humanities.


Book Synopsis Theory Conspiracy by : Frida Beckman

Download or read book Theory Conspiracy written by Frida Beckman and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-09-08 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Theory Conspiracy provides a state-of-the-art collection that takes stage on the meeting and/or battlegrounds between conspiracy theory and theory-asconspiracy. By deliberately scrambling the syntax—conspiracy theory cum theory conspiracy—it seeks to open a set of reflections on the articulation between theory and conspiracy that addresses how conspiracy might rattle the sense of theory as such. In this sense, the volume also inevitably stumbles on the recent debates on postcritique. The suspicion that our ways of reading in the humanities have been far too suspicious, if not paranoid, has gained considerable attention in a humanities continuously questioned as superfluous at best and leftist and dangerous at worst. The chapters in this volume all approach this problematic from different angles. It features clear engaging writing by a set of contributors who have published extensively on questions of paranoia, conspiracy theory, and/or the state of theory today. This collection will appeal to readers interested in conspiracy theories, critical theory, and the future of humanities.


Conspiracy in Modern Egyptian Literature

Conspiracy in Modern Egyptian Literature

Author: Benjamin Koerber

Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Published: 2017-12-04

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 1474417469

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Contextualises current Salafi iconoclasm and graves destruction, tracing its ideological sources


Book Synopsis Conspiracy in Modern Egyptian Literature by : Benjamin Koerber

Download or read book Conspiracy in Modern Egyptian Literature written by Benjamin Koerber and published by Edinburgh University Press. This book was released on 2017-12-04 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contextualises current Salafi iconoclasm and graves destruction, tracing its ideological sources


Antisemitic Conspiracy Theories in the Early Modern Iberian World

Antisemitic Conspiracy Theories in the Early Modern Iberian World

Author: Francois Soyer

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2019-03-27

Total Pages: 331

ISBN-13: 9004395601

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In Antisemitic Conspiracy Theories in the Early Modern Iberian World: Narratives of Fear and Hatred, François Soyer offers the first detailed historical analysis of antisemitic conspiracy theories in Spain, Portugal and their overseas colonies between 1450 and 1750.


Book Synopsis Antisemitic Conspiracy Theories in the Early Modern Iberian World by : Francois Soyer

Download or read book Antisemitic Conspiracy Theories in the Early Modern Iberian World written by Francois Soyer and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2019-03-27 with total page 331 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Antisemitic Conspiracy Theories in the Early Modern Iberian World: Narratives of Fear and Hatred, François Soyer offers the first detailed historical analysis of antisemitic conspiracy theories in Spain, Portugal and their overseas colonies between 1450 and 1750.


Empire of Scientism

Empire of Scientism

Author: James Tunney

Publisher:

Published: 2021-04-05

Total Pages: 102

ISBN-13:

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We are in danger of ceding power to a centralised cadre of bureaucrats, business and billionaires who assume authority to exercise power as they wish, believing they know better. The materialist paradigm has given rise to an ideology of scientism, an idolatry of technology and an instrumentality of networks, webs of control and surveillance that is shared by communists and capitalists alike. Scientism is the expansion of science beyond appropriate boundaries to become an exclusive dogma. Hitherto separate and competing forces are coalescing in a community based on application of science to governance. Some scientist have described this movement towards a scientific world government. Now we are told that such things are delusions. The emergent Empire of Scientism will be hostile to religion, spirituality and human rights and will promote transhumanism, posthumanism and represent the demise of homo sapiens. These will be the resulting conditions as conceived by certain mainstream scientists and their sycophants. Unless we wake up and embrace our spiritual consciousness we are doomed to suffer a totalitarian regime or 'globetechgov' before our demise. This book is described as a pamphlet. Pamphlets have been relevant at times in history to focus on a central issue in a way that advances a particular argument or engenders discussion.


Book Synopsis Empire of Scientism by : James Tunney

Download or read book Empire of Scientism written by James Tunney and published by . This book was released on 2021-04-05 with total page 102 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We are in danger of ceding power to a centralised cadre of bureaucrats, business and billionaires who assume authority to exercise power as they wish, believing they know better. The materialist paradigm has given rise to an ideology of scientism, an idolatry of technology and an instrumentality of networks, webs of control and surveillance that is shared by communists and capitalists alike. Scientism is the expansion of science beyond appropriate boundaries to become an exclusive dogma. Hitherto separate and competing forces are coalescing in a community based on application of science to governance. Some scientist have described this movement towards a scientific world government. Now we are told that such things are delusions. The emergent Empire of Scientism will be hostile to religion, spirituality and human rights and will promote transhumanism, posthumanism and represent the demise of homo sapiens. These will be the resulting conditions as conceived by certain mainstream scientists and their sycophants. Unless we wake up and embrace our spiritual consciousness we are doomed to suffer a totalitarian regime or 'globetechgov' before our demise. This book is described as a pamphlet. Pamphlets have been relevant at times in history to focus on a central issue in a way that advances a particular argument or engenders discussion.