Many Americans believe that their own government is guilty of
shocking crimes. Government agents shot the president. They faked
the moon landing. They stood by and allowed the murders of 2,400
servicemen in Hawaii-or 3,000 civilians in New York. In their zeal
to cover up their crimes, they killed witnesses, faked evidence,
and stole into secure offices to snatch incriminating documents
from the files. Although the paranoid style has been a feature of
the American scene since the birth of the Republic, in Real
Enemies, Kathryn Olmsted shows that it is only in the twentieth
century that strange and unlikely conspiracy theories have become
central to American politics. While Americans had worried about
bankers, Jews, and Catholics for decades, Olmsted sees World War I
as a critical turning point for conspiracy theories. As the federal
government expanded, Americans grew more fearful of the government
itself-the military, the intelligence community, and even the
President. Perhaps more important, Olmsted examines why so many
Americans believe that their government conspires against them, why
more people believe these theories over time, and how real
conspiracies by government officials-such as the infamous
Northwoods plan-have fueled our paranoia about the government. She
analyzes Pearl Harbor, Cold War and anticommunist plots, the JFK
assassination, Watergate, and 9/11. Along the way, she introduces
readers to a lively cast of characters, from the Nobel
prize-winning scientist who became a leading conspiracist to a
housewife who believed she could unlock the secrets of the JFK
assassination. Polls show that thirty-six percent of Americans
think that George W. Bush knew in advance of the 9/11 terrorist
attacks. Real Enemies, an engaging work on a timely, important
topic, sheds light on such theories, revealing how the rampant fear
of conspiracy at once invigorates and undermines American
democracy.
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