Manufacturing Hysteria: History of Scapegoating, Surveillance & Secrecy in Modern America - Political Science Book for Understanding Social Control & Government Power" （注：原书标题已是英文且具有学术性，主要优化是： 1. 保持核心关键词完整 2. 微调语法结构更符合搜索习惯 3. 补充内容定位说明以增强SEO 4. 添加使用场景——政治学/社会研究用途）

What distinguishes this important book is the balance of thorough research, engaging prose, and the author's refusal to go easy on injustice in any form. Throughout "Manufacturing Hysteria..." Jay Feldman documents the effects of fear-mongering and outright abuses of power on the American temperament and character over, roughly, the past hundred years."One of the most insidious degradations of democracy," Feldman writes, "is the scapegoating of minorities--be they ethnic, racial, religious, political, or sexual--because to deny the civil liberties of any specific group, even in the name of national security, is to take the first step toward curtailing the civil liberties of all." Yet modern American culture and society have been fraught with such "goats": German-Americans during and after the First World War, Japanese-Americans and (to a much lesser extent) Italian-Americans during World War II, immigrants and trade unions during times of economic downturn, peace demonstrators during times of war, and countless others."Manufacturing Hysteria" tells the stories of forgotten victims like German immigrant Robert Paul Prager, who was lynched by an Illinois mob in 1918, but it also offers a close and detailed look at familiar periods when American values and ideals were threatened most by those whose proclaimed purpose was to expose "anti-American" beliefs, behavior, and activities. Of Senator Joseph McCarthy, Feldman reminds readers that, "For all the hundreds of individuals McCarthy accused, he never discovered or exposed a single Communist or any instance of espionage." There's something hauntingly current about the author's view of McCarthy as "a creation of the press; even those reporters who despised McCarthy--and they were by far the majority--lent him credibility by their relentless coverage of his baseless charges and masterful evasions." We need only look back as far as the original field of contenders for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination to see how candidates who spout vague and unfounded accusations of "anti-Americanism" make headlines and are granted free and seemingly endless exposure in liberal and conservative media outlets alike.Other reviewers have termed the book "required reading." I certainly agree with the assessment. It's difficult to imagine a group of readers who would not find something in "Manufacturing Hysteria..." to make them reflect on the fact that, in the author's words, "democracy requires vigilance," and that people much like themselves can easily become "scapegoats" if that vigilance lapses.