- -Required reading for anyone concerned about news media's role in American society.- - Scott McClurg, Professor of Political Science, Souther Illinois University

-Makes a convincing case that the U.S. news media provides the public with what it wants rather than what it needs.- - Michael Delli Carpini, Dean, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania

- -Required reading for anyone concerned about news media's role in American society.- - Scott McClurg, Professor of Political Science, Souther Illinois University

-Makes a convincing case that the U.S. news media provides the public with what it wants rather than what it needs.- - Michael Delli Carpini, Dean, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania

We are living in an age of conspiracy theories, whether it's enduring, widely held beliefs such as government involvement in the Kennedy assassination or alien activity at Roswell, fears of a powerful infiltrating group such as the Illuminati, Jews, Catholics, or communists, or modern fringe movements of varying popularity such as birtherism and trutherism. What is it in American culture that makes conspiracy theories proliferate? Who is targeted, and why? Are we in the heyday of the conspiracy theory, or is it in decline?

Though there is significant scholarly literature on the topic in...

We are living in an age of conspiracy theories, whether it's enduring, widely held beliefs such as government involvement in the Kennedy assassination or alien activity at Roswell, fears of a powerful infiltrating group such as the Illuminati, Jews, Catholics, or communists, or modern fringe movements of varying popularity such as birtherism and trutherism. What is it in American culture that makes conspiracy theories proliferate? Who is targeted, and why? Are we in the heyday of the conspiracy theory, or is it in decline?

Though there is significant scholarly literature on the topic in...