I want to thank Francis McCollum Feeley, professor of American studies at Stendhal University in Grenoble, for giving me the opportunity to present a first version of the ideas developed here at a colloquium that he organized in Grenoble in January 2002 in his research center, the Centre d’études des institutions et des mouvements sociaux américains (CEIMSA).5 I thank Julie Franck, Edward S. Herman, Anne Morelli, Marie-Ange Patrizio and Alan Sokal for having read and commented on the preliminary versions of this text. I particularly thank Diana Johnstone for her precious aid and constant support in the preparation of this book. This of course does not imply that they agree with all that is said here.