Americans are more afraid than ever. Glassner looks carefully at the objects of their fear, from road rage to diseases, to crime, finding that in most cases the threat presented is widely exaggerated. Glassner locates the source of these fears in media, corporations, and politicians who profit by raising and then exploiting their fears. Sociologist Barry Glassner examines how fear is provoked in the public and the consequences of living in an environment where realism has become rare. He exposes the people and organizations that manipulate perceptions and profit from fear: politicians who win elections by heightening concerns about crime and drug use even as both are declining; advocacy groups that raise money by exaggerating the prevalence of particular diseases; TV and news magazines that monger a new scare every week to garner ratings and newsstand sales.There has never been another era in modern history, even during wartime or the Great Depression, when so many people have feared so much.