The political fundamentalism, offered up by the Bush administration after 9/11, capitalised upon the fear felt by many Americans. In essence, it is a conservative-religious ideology, but via strategic communication choices, it was transformed into a policy agenda that feels political rather than religious. These communications dominated public discourse and public opinion for months on end and came at a significant cost for democracy.

The administration had help spreading its messages. The mainstream press consistently echoed the administration's communications - thereby disseminating, reinforcing and embedding the administration's fundamentalist worldview and helping to keep at bay Congress and any substantive public questioning.

This book analyzes hundreds of administration communications and news stories from September 2001 to Iraq in spring 2003 to examine how this occurred and what it means for U.S. politics and the global landscape.