Pranksters

Kembrew McLeod is a writer, filmmaker, and Professor of Communication Studies at the University of Iowa, and occasional prankster. He is the author of Creative License, Cutting Across Media, Owning Culture, and the award-winning Freedom of Expression®. McLeod's writing has appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Village Voice, and Rolling Stone.

"McLeod is good at finding common threads that unite all the multifarious pranks together and making sense of what may seem like a tangled mess of characters and events . . . . The heady stew of the 1960sincluding the Merry Pranksters, and Abbie Hoffman and the Yippiesserves as an object lesson on pranks and how they could interface with society, culture, politics, and activism. McLeods vivid description of the Merry Pranksters kooky school bus, painted in wild colors, makes you pine for the freewheeling San Francisco of yore, before the Google bus took over." (Slate.com) "In his new book Pranksters: Making Mischief in the Modern World, Kembrew McLeod demonstrates that sometimes pranksters, working as cultural jammers, provoke worthy debates & by showing skepticism about power." (Reuters Blog) "Satire, irony, and performative politicsfromThe Daily Showto the Yes Menare being enacted, thought about, and discussed a great deal these days, but the subject is only starting to be written about. Kembrew McLeod, an engaging writer as well as a practicing prankster, does a brilliant job in analyzingthe ways in which pranks underscore a larger, often pointed truth." - Stephen Duncombe,editor of the Cultural Resistance Reader "In locating mischief at the center of media history, Pranksters transforms what, up until now, has been a series of odd footnotes into a rich and hilarious story about the making of the modern world. In doing soMcLeodchallenges overly-rationalist accounts by compelling us to laugh out loud about hoaxes, hoodwinks, cons, and more. But this isnt laughter simply for its own sake. He has a deeply ethical purpose in mind, showing us how to use media spectacularly, and, indeed, responsibly, to promote meaningful social transformationPrankstersis smart, lucid, and funnybut its no joke." - Ted Striphas,Indiana University "It's fantastic! Finally, a book that rescues the critically important art of the prank. Thanks to Pranksters, we finally understand what we've been trying to do all these years. No joke! Read it, and get out there and apply it!" (The Yes Men) "In this action-packed book, vampire-fanged strippers, Satanists and circus escapologists jostle for our attention with conspiracy theorists, Fox News anchormen and gay rights activists . . . McLeod is no ordinary academic. He avoids post-modernist jargon, writing in refreshingly straightforward journalese." (Times Higher Education) "Throughout history, Western society has been thrown into confusion, disarray, and laughter by the work of hucksters and con artists. Prankstersreveals how these mischief makers have left an educational and entertaining mark on our modern social and political life. Writer and filmmaker, Kembrow, a prankster himself, argues that these actions underscore larger, pointed truths by disrupting the daily flow of approved information and news." (utne.com) "Ultimately, what McLeod gives us in Pranksters, his topic aside, is an example of the best of cultural-studies writing. The book can engage almost any reader; it is not necessary to have been part of any academic & conversation before picking it up. At the same time, it can be extremely useful to the scholar who does want to continue the particular discussion. . . . The result is an engaging book, one as important for the example it sets as for the scholarship it presents." (The Popular Culture Studies Journal) "From Jonathan Swift's 'A Modest Proposal' to the modern 'hacktivists' of anonymous 'spoofing' corporations and governments, McLeod, the man who actually trademarked the phrase 'Freedom of Expression,' examines hoaxes, pranks, and successful feats of trickery that inspire widespread public amazement and reinforce the need to critically assess miraculous stories or occurrences. He shares thoughtful insights into both lighthearted hoaxes like the Feejee mermaid and well-known darker pranks, such as the 17th century Illuminati conspiracy created by a college student or the 1980s 'Satanic Panic.' Benjamin Franklin (who borrowed liberally from Swift) and P.T. Barnum are notable, famous tricksters, but McLeod's description of the lonely, blind phone-phreakers who created their own 'electronic social net-work' in the 1960s speaks to the primary need for expression and connection commonly found among the perpetrators. McLeod entertains and engages readers with everything from Thomas Paine to T-Pain in this clever mix of historical figures' imaginative pranks and modern attempts to capture public attention" (Publishers Weekly) "Meticulously organized and researched book." (Popmatters.com) "Those who like their reads breezy need not applybut this is not to say that Prankstersis not worth the read. Anyone in the business of deceptionwhether remediating or fomenting itought to treat this as a primary source." (PopMatters) "A spellbinder of a book,Prankstersattempts to weave together a slew of seemingly unrelated individuals, anecdotes, and themes[I]t cuts a swath along a wide range of academic disciplines, making it relevant to scholars of popular culture, sociology, media studies, and the history of the book." (Journal of Popular Culture) "The story of how mischief-makers hope to change the world one prank at a time . . . McLeods renditions of his own pranks bring sparkle and humor to the serious message of his book." (Kirkus Reviews) "An occasional prankster himself, McLeod (communication studies, Univ. of Iowa;Creative License) uses sly humor to explore the ways in which public opinion has been and can be manipulated by some unlikely deceptions. With looks at Rosicrucians, secret societies, spiritualists, conspiracies, John Birchers, Merry Pranksters, and a vast array of printed and broadcast hoaxes, McLeod weaves a tale of fantasies that sparked social commentaries and persisted for years or sometimes centuries. The author concludes with a description of his participation in a number of pranks and his perspective about his success and failure communicating his message....Verdict:Students of media or publishing history in the West will appreciate the comprehensive survey of untruths and their enduring legacy" (Library Journal,Barbara Ferrara, Chesterfield Cty. P.L., VA) "Overall, this study of pranks is engrossing in the fullest meaning of the term." (Historian)

• Acknowledgments Introduction 1. This Is the Dawning of the Age of Enlightenment ... and Pranks 2. Con Artists and Consumer Culture 3. Spirits in the Material World 4. Meet the Illuminati 5. The Golden Age of Newspaper Hoaxes 6. Political Pranksters 7. Prank Blowback 8. A Satanic Panic9. Showbiz Tricksters and the Pop Underground 10. An Education in Pranks Conclusion: Reflections of a Prankster Notes Bibliography Index About the Author