In July 2010, Terry Jones, the pastor of a small fundamentalist church in Florida, announced plans to burn two hundred Qur’ans on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Though he ended up canceling the stunt in the face of widespread public backlash, his threat sparked violent protests across the Muslim world that left at least twenty people dead. In Terrified, Christopher Bail demonstrates how the beliefs of fanatics like Jones are inspired by a rapidly expanding network of anti-Muslim organizations that exert profound influence on American understanding of Islam.
Bail traces how the anti-Muslim narrative of the political fringe has captivated large segments of the American media, government, and general public, validating the views of extremists who argue that the United States is at war with Islam and marginalizing mainstream Muslim-Americans who are uniquely positioned to discredit such claims. Drawing on cultural sociology, social network theory, and social psychology, he shows how anti-Muslim organizations gained visibility in the public sphere, commandeered a sense of legitimacy, and redefined the contours of contemporary debate, shifting it ever outward toward the fringe. Bail illustrates his pioneering theoretical argument through a big-data analysis of more than one hundred organizations struggling to shape public discourse about Islam, tracing their impact on hundreds of thousands of newspaper articles, television transcripts, legislative debates, and social media messages produced since the September 11 attacks. The book also features in-depth interviews with the leaders of these organizations, providing a rare look at how anti-Muslim organizations entered the American mainstream.
Awards and Recognition
- Winner of the 2016 Distinguished Book Award, Sociology of Religion Section of the American Sociological Association
- Winner of the 2015 ARNOVA Award for Outstanding Book in Nonprofit and Voluntary Action Research
- Honorable Mention for the 2016 Charles Tilly Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship Book Award, Collective Behavior and Social Movements Section of the American Sociological Association
"The book not only lays bare the behind-the-scenes story of a momentous shift in public opinion, it employs cutting-edge computer analysis techniques applied to large archives of data to develop a new theoretical outlook, capable of making sense of the whole field of competing organizations struggling to shape public opinion, not just studying one or two the most successful ones. The result is not only a detailed account of a specific, significant, and also very pernicious example of cultural evolution, but also a case study in how to more rigorously study cultural evolution more generally in the future."—Paul Rosenberg, Salon
"Bail quite effectively shows how and why anti-Muslim content and ‘experts' worked their way into positions of prominence, even though they were not well funded or well connected in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. Terrified is highly recommended for all levels."—Choice
"A fascinating exploration of the rising influence of anti- Muslim fringe organizations in the United States after September 11, 2001. . . . This book represents a veritable methodological primer for researchers interested in measuring collective meaning."—Mary-Hunter McDonnell, Administrative Science Quarterly
"Terrified is a major contribution to the scholarship on the public influence of anti-Muslin organizations and the role of the media in empowering them."—Todd Green, Political Science Quarterly
"Bail's account is complex, nuanced, and quite persuasive. In fact, it is an outstanding example of long-form work in the emerging ‘big data’ genre. The seamless interweaving of qualitative and computational methods often distinguishes the best work in computational sociology. Bail’s work is no exception. . . . I expect that Terrified will be an essential guide to many storms brewing on the cultural horizon, and I am glad that Bail has given it to us."—Jacob G. Foster, American Journal of Sociology
"Bail's Terrified offers a fascinating account of how anti-Islam fringe groups construct a cultural environment in which they can propagate negative emotions upon which the media can build. It presents an excellent survey of the activities of such groups and social media networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, to name a few."—Mohd Yaseen Gada, The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences
"In this groundbreaking and methodologically sophisticated book, Christopher Bail traces the emergence and proliferation of anti-Muslim organizations from the periphery to the mainstream, describing their influence on the media, public policy, and popular culture. Terrified is a must-read."—John L. Esposito, author of The Future of Islam
"Christopher Bail's book is not only a carefully researched, subtly written, and thorough account of anti-Muslim panic, but an astute demonstration of investigative sociology at its best, combining big data, content analysis, interviews, and the history of a whole ecology of sentiment. Terrified is one of the best studies of media impact in many years."—Todd Gitlin, Columbia University
"This book explains how the media's emphasis on fringe messages and sensational issues has produced a massive shift away from favorable views of Islam to ones where Muslim Americans are viewed as harboring terrorists and supporting harsh Shari'ah law. Terrified is perhaps the most advanced study yet done on what shapes changes in public opinion."—Randall Collins, University of Pennsylvania
"In this important and groundbreaking book, Bail uses a rich combination of data to map the efforts of civil society organizations to shape the popular understanding of Islam in the wake of September 11. Empirically rich and theoretically compelling, Terrified will find a large and receptive audience among those interested in September 11, Islam, and the dynamics of cultural change."—Doug McAdam, Stanford University
"Many Americans are terrified of Islam, or at least of a version of Islam portrayed in the mainstream media. As this pioneering and well-researched book demonstrates, the first step to combat this error is to expose its sources. Terrified is a necessary read for all who care about freedom of speech and protection of minorities as foundational American rights."—Bruce B. Lawrence, author of Shattering the Myth: Islam beyond Violence
"Timely and important, Terrified looks at the rise of anti-Muslim beliefs among Americans and policymakers in the wake of September 11. This book offers one of the most incisive analyses of the role of the media in amplifying some voices while muting others in the public sphere."—Francesca Polletta, University of California, Irvine
