Panic Attacks

On Sunday 30 October 1938 many Americans reportedly panicked after listening to a realistic radio play depicting a Martian invasion in New Jersey. The play was based on H.G. Wells's science fiction classic The War of the Worlds, and was broadcast by Orson Welles. Why did the script get by CBS censors? How did Welles ingeniously 'snare' listeners to other programmes? Why did newspaper editors deliberately exaggerate the scare? This event is one of the most notorious examples of the power of the media and the force of mass delusion.

With wit and scholarship, Dr Robert E. Bartholomew and historian Hilary Evans expose the history of media deception and manipulation from the birth of tabloid journalism to more recent scares in Europe and America involving 'mad cows', poison Coke, and bio-terror threats. Other media myths include the Great Moon Hoax of 1835, the 'Kissing Bug' scare of 1899, and the Halley's Comet panic of 1910. These are merely a few of the cases in which members of the media have created, deliberately or unintentionally, an array of imaginary or exaggerated threats. If we can be led to believe that ferocious animals are roaming the streets of New York City devouring residents; that the carcass of a 300-pound earthworm is lying across a Texas Interstate; or that a restless spirit is assaulting a BBC news crew, then we can be led to believe just about anything.

Panic Attacks explores the media's unrivalled power to manipulate us. It asks why there is a tendency for the public to fall victim to mass delusion and hysteria and how much we know about the actual impact of these scares.

This vivid and searching book gives an entertaining history of the effects of news stories, media hype and urban myths on the popular imagination. It will appeal to anyone interested in the mass media or in unexplained phenomena.