The Rise and Fall of the Future

McFarland Publishing, 2020 (ISBN 1476677441)

Yesterday’s thinking about the future shaped the world we live in today. Read all about it in The Rise and Fall of the Future: America’s Changing Vision of Tomorrow, 1939-1986.

The Rise and Fall of the Future traces the story of America’s evolving thinking about the future, from the wondrous visions on display at the 1939 New York World’s Fair to dystopian visions of the 1970s and 1980s. It’s a story of the nation’s optimism–born of faith in itself, in technology, and in consumerism–and of a pessimistic turn that ushered in a sense of the future lost.

“An inherently fascinating, impressively informative, exceptionally thoughtful and thought-provoking study, The Rise and Fall of the Future: America’s Changing Vision of Tomorrow, 1939-1986 is a work of meticulous and seminal scholarship. While especially and unreservedly recommended for both community and college/university library 20th Century Popular Culture collections and supplemental curriculum studies, it should be noted for the personal reading lists of students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject.”  ~John Burroughs, MBR Reviewer’s Bookwatch, October 2020

Conspiracy Theory in Film, Television, and Politics

Praeger, 2008  (ISBN 978-0-275-99462-4)

Motion pictures and television productions have often reflected the idea that conspiracies shape many events, hide others, and generally dictate much of the course of modern life, often to the disadvantage of the average person. Indeed, conspiracy theories have developed into a potent undercurrent in American politics.

In this book, author Gordon Arnold examines the evolution of this cultural climate in the United States and the intersection of film and television productions in the context of unfolding political developments. The chapters show how screen media have both reflected and shaped the cultural milieu in which traumatic events and political controversies have been interpreted with increasing cynicism.

“Conspiracy Theory in Film, Television, and Politics provides a strong historical overview of conspiracy theory offering examples and explanations of how conspiracy theory explanations have penetrated mainstream American thought. From the evolution of social and political events nurturing popular ideas of various conspiracy theories to how conspiracies were interpreted in film, TV and politics, this is an excellent in-depth survey suitable for any college-level library strong in social issues.”—The Midwest Book Review

“Arnold … places seeming conspiracies in the context of the histories of the social and political cultures that harbor them or invoke them as explanations of otherwise inexplicable events.… Recommended.” — Choice