Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire: A 500-Year History by Kurt Andersen

Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire: A 500-Year History

by Kurt Andersen

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History & Foreign AffairsSociety & Culture

Gold-seekers and religious zealots, both betting on extraordinary outcomes, made the colonies in Kurt Andersen's telling, and his case is that magical thinking has been part of the American character ever since. The 1960s counterculture and then the internet stripped away the last checks on it, leaving a post-factual culture that elected Trump.

Core ideas
  • Five centuries of it: From Martin Luther and the Puritans to 2017, the cast runs from Anne Hutchinson and Joseph Smith to P.T. Barnum, Oprah Winfrey and Alex Jones.
  • The 1960s break: Once the counterculture and New Age movements delegitimized authority, every claim came to be treated as equally valid.
  • Faith meets showmanship: Religious sects, spiritualism, patent medicines and phrenology give way to Hollywood, Las Vegas, Disneyland and reality TV.
Published2017
Pages429
ISBN9781400067213
ReadSep 2022

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