Strange Days Indeed The Golden Age Of Paranoia

Strange Days Indeed, by Francis Wheen.

The 1970s were a theme park of mass paranoia. Strange Days Indeed tells the story of the decade when a distinctive “paranoid style” emerged and seemed to infect all areas of both private and public life, from high politics to pop culture. The sense of paranoia that had long fuelled the conspiracy theories of fringe political groups then somehow became the norm for millions of ordinary people. And to make it even trickier, a certain amount of that paranoia was justified. Watergate showed that the governments really were doing illegal things and then trying to cover them up. Though Nixon may have been foremost among deluded world leaders he wasn't the only one swept up in the tide of late night terrors. UK Prime Minister Harold Wilson was convinced that the security services were plotting his overthrow, while many of them were convinced he was a Soviet agent. Idi Amin and his alleged cannibalism, the CIA's role in the Chilean coup, the Jonestown cult, the Indian state of emergency from '75 to '77 and more are here turned into a delicious carnival of the deranged—and an eye-opening take on an oft-derided decade—by a brilliant writer with an acute sense of the absurd.

Essential for students of Theatre Studies, this series of six decadal volumes provides a critical survey and reassessment of the theatre produced in each decade from the 1950s to the present. Each volume equips readers with an understanding of the context from which work emerged, a detailed overview of the range of theatrical activity and a close study of the work of four of the major playwrights by a team of leading scholars. Chris Megson's comprehensive survey of the theatre of the 1970s examines the work of four playwrights who came to promience in the decade and whose work remains undiminished today: Caryl Churchill (by Paola Botham), David Hare (Chris Megson), Howard Brenton (Richard Boon) and David Edgar (Janelle Reinelt). It analyses their work then, its legacy today and provides a fresh assessment of their contribution to British theatre. Interviews with the playwrights, with directors and with actors provides an invaluable collection of documents offering new perspectives on the work. Revisiting the decade from the perspective of the twenty-first century, Chris Megson provides an authoritative and stimulating reassessment of British playwriting in the 1970s.

Directed by Richard Donner and written by David Seltzer, The Omen (1976) is perhaps the best in the devil-child cycle of movies that followed in the wake of Rosemary’s Baby and The Exorcist. Released to a highly suggestible public, The Omen became a major commercial success, in no small part due to an elaborate pre-sell campaign that played and preyed on apocalyptic fears and a renewed belief in the Devil and the supernatural. Since polarising critics and religious groups upon its release, The Omen has earned its place in the horror film canon. It’s a film that works on different levels, is imbued with nuance, ambiguity and subtext, and is open to opposing interpretations. Reflecting the film’s cultural impact and legacy, the name ‘Damien’ has since become a pop culture byword for an evil child. Adrian Schober’s Devil’s Advocate entry covers the genesis, authorship, production history, marketing and reception of The Omen, before going on to examine the overarching theme of paranoia that drives the narrative: paranoia about the 'end times'; paranoia about government and conspiracy; paranoia about child rearing (especially, if one strips away the layer of Satanism); and paranoia about imagined threats to the right-wing Establishment from liberal and post-countercultural forces of the 1970s.

The end of the world may be upon us, but it certainly is taking its sweet time playing out. The walkers on The Walking Dead have been "walking" for nearly a decade. There are now dozens of apocalyptic television shows and we use the "end times" to describe everything from domestic politics and international conflict, to the weather and our views of the future. This collection of new essays asks what it means to live in a world inundated with representations of the apocalypse. Focusing on such series as The Walking Dead, The Strain, Battlestar Galactica, Doomsday Preppers, Westworld, The Handmaid's Tale, they explore how the serialization of the end of the world allows for a closer examination of the disintegration of humanity--while it happens. Do these shows prepare us for what is to come? Do they spur us to action? Might they even be causing the apocalypse?

The first serious full-length biography of modern Africa's most famous dictator "Sharply written, forensically researched. . . . A meticulous re-examination of Amin's life, producing a narrative packed with original evidence, and one that strives at all times to be scrupulously well balanced. "--Paul Kenyon, The Sunday Times, London Idi Amin began his career in the British army in colonial Uganda, and worked his way up the ranks before seizing power in a British-backed coup in 1971. He built a violent and unstable dictatorship, ruthlessly eliminating perceived enemies and expelling Uganda's Asian population as the country plunged into social and economic chaos. In this powerful and provocative new account, Mark Leopold places Amin's military background and close relationship with the British state at the heart of the story. He traces the interwoven development of Amin's career and his popular image as an almost supernaturally evil monster, demonstrating the impossibility of fully distinguishing the truth from the many myths surrounding the dictator. Using an innovative biographical approach, Leopold reveals how Amin was, from birth, deeply rooted in the history of British colonial rule, how his rise was a legacy of imperialism, and how his monstrous image was created.

Addressing the interart, intertextual, and intermedial dimensions of David Bowie’s sonic and visual legacy, this book considers more than five decades of a career invested with a star’s luminosity that shines well beyond the remit of pop music. The book approaches the idea of the star David Bowie as a medium in transit, undergoing constant movement and change. Within the context of celebrity studies, the concept of stardom provides an appropriate frame for an examination of Bowie’s transmedial activity, especially given his ongoing iconic signification within the celestial realm. While Bowie has traversed many mediums, he has also been described as a medium, which is consistent with the way he has described himself. With contributions from a wide range of disciplinary areas and countries, each chapter brings a fresh perspective on the concept of stardom and the conceptual significance of the terms ‘mediation’ and ‘navigation’ as they relate to Bowie and his career. Containing a multitude of different approaches to the stardom and mediation of David Bowie, this book will be of interest to those studying celebrity, audio and visual legacy, and the relationships between different forms of media. It was originally published as a special issue of Celebrity Studies.

Sex, Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll . . . Straight from the fridge - I Love Lucy meets The Sopranos in The Twilight Zone. From Elvis to Johnny Rotten, Neptune, New Jersey (with Greetings from Asbury Park) to Swinging London. Some say 'it all happened in the 60s' but in BOOM! anthropologist and social historian Ted Polhemus shows how the roots of our (post) modern age go back to the heady years just after WWII. If you like Mad Men, Blade Runner, American Graffiti, Blow-up, The Wild One . . . wish you'd caught Monk at Minton's Playhouse in 1947, Springsteen at The Stone Pony or The Pistols in London in 1976 (or not) . . . Ted Polhemus' other works include Streetstyle, Fashion & Anti-fashion, Style Surfing and Body Styles.

This handbook provides a detailed analysis of threats and risk in the international system and of how governments and their intelligence services must adapt and function in order to manage the evolving security environment. This environment, now and for the foreseeable future, is characterised by complexity. The development of disruptive digital technologies; the vulnerability of critical national infrastructure; asymmetric threats such as terrorism; the privatisation of national intelligence capabilities: all have far reaching implications for security and risk management. The leading academics and practitioners who have contributed to this handbook have all done so with the objective of cutting through the complexity, and providing insight on the most pressing security, intelligence, and risk factors today. They explore the changing nature of conflict and crises; interaction of the global with the local; the impact of technological; the proliferation of hostile ideologies and the challenge this poses to traditional models of intelligence; and the impact of all these factors on governance and ethical frameworks. The handbook is an invaluable resource for students and professionals concerned with contemporary security and how national intelligence must adapt to remain effective.

Introduction -- 1. Golden age : years of reconstruction -- 2. Thinking of Europe and beyond : Nixon and Kissinger's priorities -- 3. Special relationships : a journey to a continent in transition -- 4. Living with deficits : economic predicaments -- 5. Downward spiral : monetary turmoil and the end of the old order -- 6 Turning point : the United States and the end of "benign hegemony" -- Conclusion.