of primary personal ties between individuals in an increasingly mechanized world … the substitution of mass culture for traditional patterns." A political agitator will manipulate existing social discontent, distortion the underlying causes, with in turn results in irrational responses and actions. The agitator will trick and mislead his audience, then through "the guise of protest against the oppressive situation, the agitator binds the audience to it .... The agitator does not create the malaise, but he aggravates and fixates it because he bars the path to overcoming it." Christian right agitation is sophisticated trickery, which cannot and will not provide solutions to the public, but will only cause a "despairing obsession with its own suffering." Often the message is contradictory and nonsensical, yet based on psychological manipulation. To the majority he "may sound crazy, but he knows, with a knowledge that is largely intuitive, precisely what he is doing. He kindles fury and fear in his audience, yet keeps them in check, reminding them that they "are still weak and can free themselves from the enemy's tyranny only be submitting unconditionally to his leadership." Löwenthal and Guterman demonstrate Adorno's belief that the greatest danger to American democracy is manipulation of mass culture: radio, television, and film. The authors feared a time when an American audience could be manipulated via similar techniques and psychological means. Reception and legacy The volume was well received on publication. The New York Times, in 1949, wrote that it is "beyond all doubt the most illuminating study of the techniques and the propaganda of the native American Fascist which has yet appeared." The American Journal of Sociology'''s review, written by Wrong, mentions that the study falters in its attempt to find exact parallels between America and European fascist dictators, but its value "to American social scientists is not the least of its virtues". Alfred McClung Lee wrote in his review in Public Opinion Quarterly that the "Studies in Prejudice Series" promised to be valuable in the study of intergroup relationships and prejudice, and that "Lowethal and Guterman especially deserve praise for a wise and significant volume". Harvard lecturer Charles Clavey believes the book offers the most striking insights into current illiberal movements such as Trumpism. References Citations Sources Apostolidis, Paul. Stations of the Cross: Adorno and Christian Right Radio. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2000. Jay, Martin. "The Jews and the Frankfurt School: Critical Theory's Analysis