The Paranoid Style in American Politics - Background

Background

The essay was adapted from a Herbert Spencer Lecture Hofstadter delivered at Oxford University on November 21, 1963. It was first published in the November 1964 issue of Harper's Magazine, and was published as the titular essay in the book The Paranoid Style in American Politics, and Other Essays (1964). The essay was originally presented when the conservatives, led by Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater (1909–1998), were on the verge of taking control of the Republican Party.

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