Magicland

On the oeuvre of Glenn Beck:

"The undisputed high point of Beck’s tenure in Baltimore was an elaborate prank built around a nonexistent theme park. The idea was to run a promotional campaign for the fictional grand opening of the world’s first air-conditioned underground amusement park, called Magicland. According to Beck and Gray, it was being completed just outside Baltimore. During the build-up, the two created an intricate and convincing radio world of theme-park jingles and promotions, which were rolled out in a slow buildup to the nonexistent park’s grand opening… On the day Magicland was supposed to throw open its air-conditioned doors, Beck and Gray took calls from enraged listeners who tried to find the park and failed. Among the disappointed and enraged was a woman who had canceled a no-refund cruise to attend the event." — from Alexander Zaitchik’s Common Nonsense: Glenn Beck and the Triumph of Ignorance

A Requiem for Glenn Beck

  1. Is Glenn Beck the Most Annoying Man on TV?Benjamin Wallace | GQ | Sep 2007

  2. Mad Man: Is Glenn Beck Bad for America?David Von Drehle | Time | Sep 2009

  3. The Making of Glenn BeckAlexander Zaitchik | Salon | Sep 2009

  4. Unheavenly Host: Fox’s Latest BlowhardNancy Franklin | New Yorker | Nov 2009

  5. Glenn Beck, Inc.Lacey Rose | Forbes | Apr 2010

  6. Being Glenn BeckMark Leibovich | NYT Magazine | Nov 2009

  7. The Beck of RevelationMark Lilla | NY Review of Books | Dec 2010

Glenn Beck, Inc.

“I could give a flying crap about the political process,” Beck says. Making money, on the other hand, is to be taken very seriously. And he’s very good at it: Beck pulled in $32 million in the last year.