August 31

Woman Stumbles on Secret Communist Plot while Scrolling through Facebook

Bill Fullen puts the 2020 Election into Perspective

The John Birch Society on the Crisis in Public Education

Introducing the course

Introducing ourselves

Introducing the subject

Introducing history

September 7

Reading: Hofstadter, “The Paranoid Style in American Politics”

Lynch, “Paranoid Politics”

Ribuffo, “Donald Trump and the ‘Paranoid Style'”

Olmstead, “A Conspiracy So Dense”

Koerth, “Conspiracy Theories Can’t Be Stopped”

Watch: “Pulling the Thread” Season One (You can also find this six-episode series on YouTube.

Discussion: Hofstadter, Paranoid, and our Modern World

Discussion Leaders: Group One (Bean, Gray, Longville, Randolph, Scott)

Due: Response Paper One: Does Hofstadter Still Work? (See Response Paper Worksheet)

Quiz: Syllabus

Research Roundtable: Historical Questions

September 14

Reading: Anderson, Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire Parts I-III

Watch: “Truthiness”

Discussion: American Fantastic

Discussion Leaders: Group Two (Berlin, Harpham, Williams, Rodriguez, Sinkhorn)

Due: Response Paper Two: “Fantastical Thinking” and “American Exceptionalism”

Due: Statement of Topic + Five book and Five Source Bibliography

Quiz: Anderson

Research Roundtable: The Hunt for Answers and Annotated Bibliographies

September 21

Reading: Anderson, Fantasyland, Rest of Book 

Discussion: Politics and Fantasy 

Discussion Leaders: Group Three (Depastino, Hissong, Matson, Rubadue, Sweeney

Due: Response Paper Three: The Fantasy World of the Baby Boom Generation

“Fantasyland by Kurt Andersen is a book that seeks to explain how fantasy and magical thinking have deep roots in American society.” 

“In Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire, Kurt Andersen constructs a detailed timeline that displays America’s long affair with fantastical thinking.”

“In the first three sections of his book Fantasyland, author Kurt Andersen argues that American Exceptionalism has taken on a new definition of extreme individualism and a warped sense of reality.”

“The recent political division in American politics has highlighted for some what seems to be a new phenomenon in our country’s psyche–the willingness of traditionally standard and grounded institutions to blur the lines between reality and fantasy–without apology. While the volatile political landscape today indeed is in many ways new, according to Andersen, the American “fantasy” culture peaked in the 1960s.”

Mini Workshop:

Outlines, Pre-writing, Sentence Structure, Discipline, and Clarity.

Mini Workshop:

Getting past Google and JSTOR

Quiz: Anderson

Research Roundtable: Notetaking: story + data + argument

September 28

Reading: MacLean, Democracy in Chains, Intro through Part Two

Discussion: What if the Conspiracy is Real(ish)?

Discussion Leaders: Group Four (Munoz, Gaston, Lee, Price, Ryan)

Due: Response Paper: Discuss MacLean, her set of primary sources, and the thesis of the book

Research Roundtable: Writing + notetaking + research methods

October 5

Reading:

MacLean, Democracy in Chains, Rest of Book

Discussion: The Libertarian Origins of the Modern Right

Discussion Leaders: Group One

Due: Response Paper Five: TBD

Due: Notes + Gather

Quiz: MacLean

Research Roundtable: Conferences – Williams, Longville, Sinkhorn, Gray, Harpham, Berlin, Gaston

October 19

Reading: Walker, The US of Paranoia, Part One

Discussion: Walker

Discussion Leaders: Group Two

Due: Response Paper Six:  Jesse Walker describes his book as one about “America’s demons,” he continues: “Many of those demons are imaginary, but all of them have truths to tell us. A conspiracy story that catches on becomes a form of folklore [and . . .] says something true about the anxieties and experiences of the people who believe and repeat it. Keeping in mind what you have read in MacLean and Andersen, what do 19th century American conspiracy theories tell us about America in those years?

Due: Notes + Gather

Quiz: Walker

Research Roundtable: Conferences – Hissong, Randolph, Price, Ryan, Rubadue, Sweeney

October 26

Reading:

Walker, The US of Paranoia, Part Two

Discussion: Walker

Discussion Leader: Group Three

Due: Response Paper Seven: We’ve spent eight weeks talking about conspiracy theories in American politics. You’ve read three books on the subject along with one of the most influential essays ever written on the subject. You have begun your research into political conspiracy theories in the 1960s.  Drawing upon your readings and research, how do you explain your subject?

Quiz: Walker

Research Roundtable: Conferences – Scott, Depastino, Bean, Luo, Matson, Rodriquez, Lee, Longville, Hissong,

November 2

Reading: Welch, Blue Book

Discussion/Lecture: The John Birch Society

Discussion Leaders: Group 4

Due: Blue Book Notes

Quiz: Welch

Research Roundtable: Conferences remaining

November 9

Screening before class:

Danger on the Right Part One

Danger on the Right Part Two

Danger on the Right Part Three

Danger on the Right Part Four

Danger on the Right Part Five

Danger on the Right Part Six

Danger on the Right Part Seven

Special Guest: Edward Miller, author of Nut Country: Right Wing Dallas and the Birch of the Southern Strategy and the forthcoming Robert Welch, the John Birch Society, and the Revolution of American Conservatism

Reading: Papers Group A (Bean, Gaston, Harpham, Price, Scott, Sweeney) – These papers will be emailed to the entire class no later than Saturday at midnight.

Due: Group B – Editorial Comments on Group A Papers + Response paper on at least two papers

Research Roundtable: Workshop Group A Papers

November 16

Screening before class:

Operation Abolition and Operation Correction

Anarchy USA

Crisis for Americans: Communist Accent on Youth

Reading: Group B Papers (Berlin, Gray, Randolph, Ryan, Sinkhorn, Rubadue) mThese papers will be emailed to the entire class no later than Saturday at midnight.

Discussion: Group B Papers

Discussion Leaders: Group A

Due:

Group A – Editorial Comments on Group B Papers + Response paper on at least two papers

Quiz: Group B Papers

Research Roundtable: Workshop Group B Papers

November 30

Reading: “Birchtown”

Reading: Group A Second Draft

Discussion: Group A Papers – Birchtown as model

Discussion Leaders: Group B

Research Roundtable: Style and Self Editing

December 7

Reading: “Birchers First”

Discussion: Group B Papers – Birchers First as model

Discussion Leaders: Group A

Research Roundtable: Style and Self Editing