How do controversial, unpopular, and radical ideas and people gain mass acceptance?

Anderson, Scott. “Polygamy in America.” National Geographic Feb. 2010:
Print.
This article explores a sub-culture of America that is accepted, to some extent, though illegal. It also touches on some tactics used within the polygamist culture that motivate successive generations to maintain the lifestyle.

Bennett, Stephen Earl, Staci L. Rhine, and Richard S. Flickinger. “Reading’s
Impact on Democratic Citizenship in America.” Political Behavior
22.3 (2000): 167-195. Academic Search Premier. Web. 1 Apr 2010.
This article argues that reading promotes people’s tolerance of unpopular groups of people. This ties into my argument from the bridge essay that giving the history or telling the story of an idea or group of people, by writing about it or speaking about it, promotes empathy for that idea or group.

Burleigh, Michael. The Third Reich: A New History. New York: Farrar,
Strauss, and Giroux, 2001. Print.
This book explores the theory of political religion as a means of gaining mass appeal, specifically in the context of Nazi Germany.

Currell, Susan and Christina Cogdell, ed. Popular Eugenics: National
Efficiency and American Mass Culture in the 1930s. Athens: Ohio
University Press, 2006. Print.
This book is an anthology of how eugenics came into effect and became popular in the United States.

Ferguson, Niall. The War of the World. New York: Penguin, 2007. Print.
This book contains information about how National Socialism became such a mass movement in Germany in the WWII era.

Jessop, Carolyn and Laura Palmer. Escape. New York: Broadway Books,
2007. Print.
This primary source is an autobiography of Carolyn Jessop, a woman who escaped from her polygamous lifestyle. It sheds light on the inter-workings of a controversial culture and its methods of maintaining a mass following.

Kinzer, Stephen. “The Neo-Nazis: How Quickly They Remember.” The New
York Times. The New York Times Company, 17 Nov. 1991. Web. 1
Apr. 2010.
This article talks about Neo-Nazis in Germany and their ideologies in the context of modern society.

Smith, Steven. “Personalities in the Crowd: The Idea of ‘Masses’ in
American Popular Culture.” Prospects 19 (1994): 225-287. America:
History & Life. Web. 1 Apr 2010.
This article gives three examples of men with radical ideas who were able to gain mass popularity, and describes each of their tactics of doing so.

White, Ralph K. “Empathizing with the Rulers of the USSR.” Political
Psychology. 4.1 (1983): 121-137. JStor. Web. 2 Apr 2010.
This article defines empathy as understanding and argues that empathizing with the rulers of the USSR will help the Western world avoid nuclear war.