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A review by ibartleby
The Paranoid Style in American Politics and Other Essays by Richard Hofstadter
5.0
“We are all sufferers from history, but the paranoid is a double sufferer, since he is afflicted not only by the real world, with the rest of us, but by his fantasies as well.”
I only read the eponymous essay, The Paranoid Style in American Politics, and it’s fantastic. It ought to be required reading. More relevant now, perhaps, than when it was written. Hofstadter identifies and describes the ‘paranoid style’ so clearly and brilliantly in such a short essay.
The ‘paranoid style’ is not, admittedly, strictly an American phenomenon. It’s an international one, and it stretches far back in time. But the ‘paranoid style’ is certainly integral to America’s DNA. Hofstadter provides historical examples, listing the early anti-Illuminism movement of the late 18th century/early 19th century, the anti-Masonic and anti-Catholicism of the 19th century, and 20th century McCarthyism and the Communist threat to the ‘American Way of Life’ as moments propelled by the paranoid style. He also mentions the John Birch Society and Barry Goldwater’s presidential campaign in 1964 as more contemporary examples. He’s definitely come with receipts. In these examples, Hofstadter identifies a number of common beliefs/worldviews that enable the paranoid to succumb to their delusions. I won’t list them here, since doing so would be reductionist—he’s articulated them quite clearly, so it’s best to just read or re-read the essay. And that’s the biggest surprise. Not once did I find myself wondering what Hofstadter meant. The guy knows how to write. I guess the two Pulitzers weren’t flukes.
Definitely a must-read.
I only read the eponymous essay, The Paranoid Style in American Politics, and it’s fantastic. It ought to be required reading. More relevant now, perhaps, than when it was written. Hofstadter identifies and describes the ‘paranoid style’ so clearly and brilliantly in such a short essay.
The ‘paranoid style’ is not, admittedly, strictly an American phenomenon. It’s an international one, and it stretches far back in time. But the ‘paranoid style’ is certainly integral to America’s DNA. Hofstadter provides historical examples, listing the early anti-Illuminism movement of the late 18th century/early 19th century, the anti-Masonic and anti-Catholicism of the 19th century, and 20th century McCarthyism and the Communist threat to the ‘American Way of Life’ as moments propelled by the paranoid style. He also mentions the John Birch Society and Barry Goldwater’s presidential campaign in 1964 as more contemporary examples. He’s definitely come with receipts. In these examples, Hofstadter identifies a number of common beliefs/worldviews that enable the paranoid to succumb to their delusions. I won’t list them here, since doing so would be reductionist—he’s articulated them quite clearly, so it’s best to just read or re-read the essay. And that’s the biggest surprise. Not once did I find myself wondering what Hofstadter meant. The guy knows how to write. I guess the two Pulitzers weren’t flukes.
Definitely a must-read.