Book description
The United States of Paranoia is a history of America's demons. Conspiracy theories, Walker explains, aren't just a feature of the fringe: They've been a potent force across the political spectrum, in the center as well as the extremes, from the colonial era to the present. Walker argues that conspiracy…
Why read it?
1 author picked The United States of Paranoia as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
Hofstadter’s Paranoid Style is more a work of historiography than history and attempted to explain the rise of a right-wing “paranoia” to a liberal intellectual audience in the early 1960s. By contrast, Jesse Walker’s book offers a more detailed, engaging, and sympathetic history of U.S. conspiracy theories and the individuals and groups who have made and circulated them. It’s funny and deadpan, with a keen eye for subcultural details and the singular American oddballs that have traveled from the margins to the mainstream. As Walker demonstrates, Qanon is not the first example of a bizarre, syncretic set of beliefs that…
From Mark's list on understanding conspiracy theories.
If you love The United States of Paranoia...
Aggressor
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.
The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…
Want books like The United States of Paranoia?
Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like The United States of Paranoia.
Share your top 3 reads of 2025!
And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.
1,212
readers submitted
so far, will you?
📚 If you like The United States of Paranoia, you might also like...
Pinned
“Rowdy” Randy Cox, a woman staring down the barrel of retirement, is a curmudgeonly blue-collar butch lesbian who has been single for twenty years and is trying to date again.
At the end of a long, exhausting shift, Randy finds her supervisor, Bryant, pinned and near death at the warehouse…
Reddy
This is for those readers who like unusual settings and independent female characters in mid-life.
