1/22/23

This book is referenced a lot so it was time for me to read the original. It was an entertaining read about numerous examples of American paranoid movements in history. ( )

Most of us know the basics of this history--fears of Masonic conspiracies in the early period of the Republic, fears of Catholics in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with all the new immigints, McCarthyism, the great burgeoning that was just taking place when Hofstadter was writing such that conspiracyism is now its own kind of kitsch and aliens killed the JFK clone on 9/11, and the details are a bit much for the casual reader, but Hofstadter's dissection of the (grandiose, black-and-white, obsessive) personality characteristics of the type and contribution of the term "paranoid style" are worth a good deal. ( )

Six decades past publication, it is remarkable how much Hofstadter's analyses the conservative fringe have retained their lucidity, not least because the circumstances between then and now are too similar.

For example - why were the Birther movement/John Birch Society, and McCarthyism/Anti-Muslim scare as prominent as they were, then and now? Both Eisenhower and Obama were centrist presidents, what could have offended them? Granted, there is discontent with Obama because of the economy, and Eisenhower on foreign policy, but why this new criticism clouding debate?

Hofstadter classifies this as the 'paranoid style' - not necessarily limited to conservatism, but broadly associated with it. It includes a fear of compromise (seen in both Eisenhower and Obama), and redefining the opponent into a broadly conspiratorial role, which must be defeated utterly. In both cases, the accused are associated with international Communism.

He also identifies ethnic character as having a possible background to this perversion, and having it stretch back to the 19th century, and the first waves of immigrants, who would contaminate American culture and use foreign customs to destroy the traditional way of life. The Anglo-Saxons feared the Irish and Catholicism. Then they feared the Germans. Then the Eastern Europeans and Italians. Then the East Asians. And now primarily the Hispanics.

Another question is the personification of the extreme Fringe in conservatism - some 50 years ago it was Barry Goldwater, whose brinksmanship was very tempting in an era of national crisis - and yet so terrifying to a sufficient majority that LBJ trounced him.

The rest of the essays do not strictly deal with paranoia and extreme conservatism, but they deal with relatively obscure topics fluently.

One of my surprise favorites was on the crisis of bimetallism in the 19th century. It's oddly fascinating, and one now thinks of the modern day 'gold bugs' at our Beck and Paul, conspiring against International Finance as much as demagogues in the 19th century feared International Jewry.

A new dose for the politics junkie. Worth the read. ( )

Although I was more interested in the essays included in the first half of the book, on the history of paranoid (political) thought in the U.S., all of Hofstadter's essays are incredibly well thought-out, and give careful consideration to as many sides as possible of the issue he's considering. Excellent historical work. ( )