Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire: A 500-Year History
by Kurt Andersen
View on GoodreadsAndersen's argument that America has always been disproportionately credulous — built by religious utopians, hucksters, and conspiracy-prone idealists — and that the Trump era is the culmination of a 500-year drift, not an aberration.
Core ideas
- The Puritans and the gold-hunters were two sides of the same fantastical impulse; both were betting on impossible outcomes the European mainstream wouldn't entertain.
- The 1960s "do your own thing" cultural turn democratized reality across politics — left and right both started claiming the right to their own facts.
- By the 2000s, the internet and cable news weaponized the inheritance; Trump didn't create Fantasyland, he was its native son and inevitable president.
Published2017
Pages429
ISBN9781400067213
ReadSep 2022
