Dictators, Democracy, and American Public Culture

“This masterly study of the historical dimensions of this process of polarization is to be welcomed. . . . It is the kind of history that can revitalize our interest in ideas and events that we had long thought we understood.”—International History Review

“Alpers has made visible an important aspect of American intellectual history in the twentieth century. . . . [He] convincingly delineates an exciting intellectual history that has Orson Welles and Charlie Chaplin converse with Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., and Joseph Schumpeter.”—American Historical Review

“Alpers' timely book. . . . has some fresh sources and some new things to say.”—New Yorker

“Will gladden the hearts of anyone interested in communication history during critical periods in the 20th century. . . . A unique contribution to American political and cultural history.”—Political Communication

"Well-written and clearly argued. . . . A stimulating and intelligent account.—War in History

“A first-rate book. Others have told parts of this story, but no one has put it all together as Alpers does. By considering dictatorship generally, he effectively links the response to particular dictatorships that others have considered separately, and by cutting across the divide between elite and popular culture, he brings together and further illuminates material that others have treated in isolation. His readings of oft-analyzed texts such as George Orwell’s 1984 and Hannah Arendt’s Origins of Totalitarianism are illuminating and fresh, and he brings to light a good deal of less familiar source material.”—Robert Westbrook, University of Rochester