Conspiracy thriller

The conspiracy thriller (or paranoid thriller) is a subgenre of the thriller which flourished in the 1970s in the US (and was echoed in other parts of the world) in the wake of a number of high-profile scandals and controversies (most notably Vietnam, the assassination of President Kennedy, Chappaquiddick and Watergate), and which exposed what many people regarded as the clandestine machinations and conspiracies beneath the orderly fabric of political life.

Literature

A number of novelists have made repeated contributions to the conspiracy thriller genre. Indeed, many of the most acclaimed conspiracy films have been adapted from novels.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

One of the early pioneers of the genre was Graham Greene, whose 1943 novel The Ministry of Fear (brought to the big screen by Fritz Lang in 1944) combines all the ingredients of paranoia and conspiracy familiar to aficionados of the 70s thrillers, with additional urgency and depth added by its wartime backdrop. Greene himself credited Michael Innes as the inspiration for his "entertainment" http://www.catswhiskers.fsnet.co.uk/reviews.html.

Related Topics:
Graham Greene - 1943 - The Ministry of Fear - Fritz Lang - 1944 - 70s - Michael Innes

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The American novelist Richard Condon wrote a number of conspiracy thrillers, including the seminal The Manchurian Candidate, and Winter Kills, which was made into a film by William Richert in 1979.

Related Topics:
America - Richard Condon - The Manchurian Candidate - Winter Kills - William Richert - 1979

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

There are also a number of novelists who have devoted themselves to expounding and exploring not only conspiracies, but conspiracy theories. Popular examples include The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea, and the novels of Philip K. Dick and Thomas Pynchon.

Related Topics:
The ''Illuminatus!'' Trilogy - Robert Anton Wilson - Robert Shea - Philip K. Dick - Thomas Pynchon

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~