Broadcast Hysteria, A. Brad Schwartz
Broadcast Hysteria, A. Brad Schwartz
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Broadcast Hysteria
Orson Welles's War of the World's and the Art of Fake News

Author: A. Brad Schwartz

Narrator: Sean Runnette

Unabridged: 10 hr 13 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/05/2015


Synopsis

On October 30, 1938, families across the country were gathered around their radios when their regular programming was interrupted by an announcer delivering news of a meteor strike in New Jersey. With increasing intensity, the announcer read bulletins describing terrifying war  machines moving toward New York City. As the invading force approached, some listeners sat transfixed before their radios, while others ran to alert neighbors or call the police. Some even fled their homes in panic. But the broadcast was not breaking news—it was Orson Welles' adaptation of the H. G. Wells classic, The War of the Worlds.

In Broadcast Hysteria, A. Brad Schwartz examines the history behind the infamous radio play. Did it really spawn a wave of mass hysteria? Schwartz is the first to examine the hundreds of letters sent directly to Orson Welles after the broadcast. He draws upon them, hundreds more sent to the FCC, to recapture the roiling emotions of a bygone era, and his findings challenge conventional wisdom. Relatively few listeners believed an actual attack was underway. But even so, Schwartz shows that Welle's broadcast prompted a different kind of "mass panic" as Americans debated the bewitching power of the radio and the country's vulnerabilities in a time of crisis. Schwartz's original research gifted storytelling, and thoughtful analysis make Broadcast Hysteria a groundbreaking work of media history.

A .Brad  Schwartz  is the author of Broadcast Hysteria: Orson Welles's War of the Worlds and the Art of Fake News (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2015). The book is based on his groundbreaking research into the infamous 1938 "panic broadcast," conducted as part of his senior thesis in history at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Brad also co-wrote a 2013 episode of the PBS series American Experience about the War of the Worlds broadcast, based in part on his thesis research.

Brad received his BA in History and Screen Arts & Cultures from the University of Michigan in 2012. As part of the University selective screenwriting program, he wrote Open House, a murder-mystery/comedy short film that premiered at the Traverse City Film Festival in 2013. It has since screened as official selection of NewFilmmakers Los Angeles and the 2014 Maryland International Film Festival.

About A. Brad Schwartz

A. Brad Schwartz is the author of Broadcast Hysteria: Orson Welles's War of the Worlds and the Art of Fake News, based in part on research from his senior thesis at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He cowrote a documentary about the War of the Worlds broadcast for the PBS series American Experience. He is currently a doctoral candidate in American history at Princeton University.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Sharon on June 16, 2015

"Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see." - Poe This quote is the frontispiece to this book. Hits me right in my skeptical soul. I run Doubtful News, a site that deals daily with questionable claims in news media. I don't like fake news. But the story of War of the Worlds, Orson Wel......more

Goodreads review by Shelley on May 24, 2016

3.5? There wasn't quite enough here for a full book. Everyone thinks of the War of the Worlds as having inspired people to go crazy with fear, but unsurprisingly, that is way overblown. Some did think it was real, because they tuned in late, and even fewer panicked and tried to escape. Newspapers pl......more

Goodreads review by Jim on January 30, 2019

A history of radio broadcasting before, during, and after Welles' broadcast of War of the Worlds. Good biography too of Welles' creative life. I especially liked the detail regarding how the War of the Worlds radio script was written and revised, and how the performance was produced. I agree with th......more

Goodreads review by Douglas on May 06, 2020

Very, very interesting. Extremely well researched. The author covered many related subjects. I was particularity pleased with the chapters on Orson Welles and his experimental theater projects back in the 1930s. The truth about the actual events is not what you expect. And all the related issues are......more

Goodreads review by Brion on September 17, 2020

This was an interesting listen. I enjoyed the intricate history lesson on the events, combined with a larger worldview that put into context the broadcast. The book also suggests why we may be in the state of misinformation and fake news that we currently find ourselves in. Informative and interesti......more