Fantasyland : how America went haywire : a 500-year history

Andersen, Kurt 1954- (Author).

Summary: Explains how the influences of dreamers, zealots, hucksters, and superstitious groups shaped America's tendency toward a rich fantasy life, citing the roles of individuals from P.T. Barnum to Donald Trump in perpetuating conspiracy theories, self-delusion, and magical thinking.

Record details

ISBN: 9781400067213
ISBN: 1400067219
ISBN: 9781588366870
Physical Description: print
xiii, 462 pages ; 25 cm
Edition: First edition.
Publisher: New York : Random House, [2017]

Content descriptions

General Note:	Includes index.
Bibliography, etc. Note:	Includes bibliographical references and index.
Formatted Contents Note:	Now entering fantasyland -- Part I. The conjuring of America: 1517-1789 : I believe, therefore I am right: the Protestants ; All that glitters: the gold-seekers ; Building our own private heaven on Earth: the Puritans ; The God-given freedom to believe in God ; Imaginary friends and enemies: the early satanic panics ; The first me century: religion gets American ; Meanwhile, in the 18th century reality-based community -- Part II. United States of amazing: the 1800s : The first great delirium ; The all-American fan fiction of Joseph Smith, prophet ; Quack nation: magical but modern ; Fantastic business: the Gold Rush inflection point ; In search of monsters to destroy: the conspiracy-theory habit ; The war between states of mind ; Ten million little houses on the prairie ; Fantasy industrialized -- Part III. A long arc bending toward reason: 1900-1960 : Progress and backlash ; The biggest backlash: brand new old-time religion ; The business of America is show business ; Big rock candy mountains: utopia in the suburbs and the sun ; The 1950s seemed so normal -- Part IV. Big bang: the 1960s and '70s : Big bang: the hippies ; Big bang: the intellectuals -; Big bang: the Christians ; Big bang: politics and government and conspiracies ; Big bang: living in a land of entertainment -- Part V. Fantasyland scales: from the 1980s through the turn of the century : Making make-believe more realistic and real life more make-believe ; Forever young: kids "r" us syndrome ; The Reagan era and the start of the digital age ; American religion from the turn of the millennium ; Our wilder Christianities: belief and practice ; America versus the godless civilized world: why are we so exceptional? ; Magical but not necessarily Christian, spiritual but not religious ; Blue-chip witch doctors: the reenchantment of medicine ; How the mainstream enabled fantasyland: squishies, cynics and believers ; Anything goes-unless it picks my pocket or breaks my leg -- Part VI. The problem with fantasyland: from the 1980s to the present and beyond : The inmates running the asylum decide monsters are everywhere ; Reality is a conspiracy: the x-filing of America ; Mad as hell, the new voice of the people ; When the GOP went off the rails ; Liberals denying science ; Gun crazy ; Final fantasy-industrial complex ; Our inner children? They're going to Disney World! ; The economic dreamtime ; As fantasyland goes, so goes the nation.