This book examines the ¿satanic panic¿ of the 1980s as an essential part of the growing relationship between tabloid media and American conservative politics in the 1980s. It argues that widespread fears of Satanism in a range of cultural institutions was indispensable to the development and success of both infotainment, or tabloid content on television, and the rise of the New Right, a conservative political movement that was heavily guided by a growing coalition of influential televangelists, or evangelical preachers on television. It takes as its particular focus the hundreds of accusations that devil-worshippers were operating Americäs white middle-class suburban daycare centers. Dozens of communities around the country became embroiled in trials against center owners, the most publicized of which was the McMartin Preschool trial in Manhattan Beach, California. It remains the longest and most expensive criminal trial in the nation¿s history.

Sarah Hughes is an independent scholar who received her PhD from Temple University, USA.

Introduction.- 1. A 'Vast Wasteland': American Media in the 1980s.- 2. 'The Hyperreal and the Imaginary': The Satanic Panic as Infotainment.- 3. A Nightmare on Elm Street: Paranormal Activity in Evangelical Suburbia.- 4. 'The Perils of Punky': Gender, Childhood, and the Occult.- 5. Stay Tuned: The Panic and its Legacies.