Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe is Hijacking America

By: and

Synopsis
What's a Wingnut? It's someone on the far-right wing or far-left wing of the political spectrum - the professional partisans and the unhinged activists, the hardcore haters and the paranoid conspiracy theorists. They're the people who always try to divide us instead of unite us.

Wingnuts looks at the outbreak of extremism in the opening years of the Obama administration - from the unprecedented government spending that spurred the Tea-Party protests to the onset of Obama Derangement Syndrome. John Avlon explains how hate-fueled rumors take hold (one section is called "How Obama Became Hitler, a Communist and the Antichrist"), looks at the 'hunt for heretics' that is taking place inside both parties and details the rise of hyper-partisan media. Avlon profiles preachers who are praying for the president's death, goes inside the growing "Hatriot" movement and parallels the "Birthers" and the "9/11 Truthers." The book compares current merchants of political paranoia with past fear-mongers and finds that divisive demagogues have sold this snake oil before. But the two parties' increased polarization and the echo-chamber of the internet are helping the fringe blur with the base, making the Wingnuts more powerful than ever before.

We are allowing paranoids, hysterics and hyper-partisans to hijack our politics - but it doesn't have to be this way. Avlon asserts that centrists need to stand up to the extremes on both sides and declare their independence. The book ends on a hopeful note - the conclusion is "How to Take America Back from the Lunatic Fringe."

Copyright:
2010

Book Details

Book Quality:
Publisher Quality
Book Size:
304 Pages
ISBN-13:
9780984295104
Related ISBNs:
9780984295111
Publisher:
Beast Books
Date of Addition:
Copyrighted By:
John Avlon, Tina Brown
Adult content:
No
Language:
English
Has Image Descriptions:
No
Categories:
History, Nonfiction, Politics and Government
Submitted By:
Bookshare Staff
Usage Restrictions:
This is a copyrighted book.

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