Among the Truthers: A Journey Through America's Growing Conspiracist Underground

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Among the Truthers: A Journey Through America's Growing Conspiracist Underground

3.17 of 5 stars 3.17 · rating details · 263 ratings · 72 reviews

From left-wing 9/11 conspiracy theorists to right-wing Obama-hating "birthers"—a sobering, eyewitness look at how America's marketplace of ideas is fracturing into a multitude of tiny, radicalized boutiques—each peddling its own brand of paranoia

Throughout most of our nation's history, the United States has been bound together by a shared worldview. But the 9/11 terrorist...more From left-wing 9/11 conspiracy theorists to right-wing Obama-hating "birthers"—a sobering, eyewitness look at how America's marketplace of ideas is fracturing into a multitude of tiny, radicalized boutiques—each peddling its own brand of paranoia

Throughout most of our nation's history, the United States has been bound together by a shared worldview. But the 9/11 terrorist attacks opened a rift in the collective national psyche: Increasingly, Americans are abandoning reality and retreating to Internet-based fantasy worlds conjured into existence out of our own fears and prejudices.

The most disturbing symptom of this trend is the 9/11 Truth movement, whose members believe that Bush administration officials engineered the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks as a pretext to launch wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. But these "Truthers" are merely one segment of a vast conspiracist subculture that includes many other groups: anti-Obama extremists who believe their president is actually a foreign-born Manchurian Candidate seeking to destroy the United States from within; radical alternative-medicine advocates who claim that vaccine makers and mainstream doctors are conspiring to kill large swathes of humanity; financial neo-populists who have adapted the angry message of their nineteenth-century forebears to the age of Twitter; Holocaust deniers; fluoride phobics; obsessive Islamophobes; and more.

For two years journalist Jonathan Kay immersed himself in this dark subculture, attending conventions of conspiracy theorists, surfing their discussion boards, reading their websites, joining their Facebook groups, and interviewing them in their homes and offices. He discovered that while many of their theories may seem harmlessly bizarre, their proliferation has done real damage to the sense of shared reality that we rely on as a society. Kay also offers concrete steps that intelligent, culturally engaged Americans can take to reject conspiracism and help regain control of the intellectual landscape.(less)

Hardcover, 368 pages

Published May 17th 2011 by Harper (first published January 1st 2011)

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Mar 15, 2013 Andy rated it 1 of 5 stars

Truthiness about Truthers.

Kay's overall argument is apparently that anyone who is skeptical of the government is by definition mentally ill: that sounds like Soviet Russia to me, not what America or the Enlightenment is supposed to be about. Very scary.

This book is not objective. The author starts by calling the Truthers "nutbars" but at no point does he debunk what they believe. Toward the end of the book, he says he had to cut out several chapters on facts because his editor said no one would...more

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Andy I understand you want to make this discussion be about me and about the details of 9/11, but all that is off topic from the substance of my review.
Go...more
May 11, 2013 09:18am

Graeme1872 I understand you want to make this discussion be about me and about the details of 9/11, but all that is off topic from the substance of my review.

I a...more I understand you want to make this discussion be about me and about the details of 9/11, but all that is off topic from the substance of my review.

I actually just want you to admit that you were misleading in your original review. I suspected you were a truther from reading your original review and your subsequent comments have all but proven it, so in a way, it doesn't really matter whether or not you admit to being a truther, I'm just going to assume that you are one, and I already was assuming that throughout our exchange to be honest. The reason I suspected you were a truther was not because your review was negative, (though I doubt there would be any positive reviews from 9/11 truthers) but because of your constant misleading and downright lying about the contents of the book and the general tone of your review. You use lots of the hyperbolic language that I've encountered from other conspiracy theorists on the internet when they are attacking a member of the mainstream media who doesn't take their conspiracy theories seriously. I've given you several opportunities to clarify whether or not you are a 9/11 truther and you have simply avoided the question. Knowing whether or not you are a 9/11 truther is actually important and not unnecessary because it would help explain why you would claim such wild things as:
"Kay's overall argument is apparently that anyone who is skeptical of the government is by definition mentally ill."
even though you have no evidence to make such a claim.

You're also doing exactly what I predicted you would do if you were a conspiracy theorist, which is to avoid my question and say something to the effect of: "It doesn't matter if I personally am a 9/11 truther."

Goodreads users can see your comments and decide if I am being misleading about what the author wrote/meant regarding conspiracy theorists, and they can agree or disagree about what can be inferred from the arguments contained in the book.

Well that goes without saying for every comment on this website. What is your point? You've still not accepted that you were wrong about the misleading claims in your original review and you haven't given me any evidence or reasons to believe that you were right.(less)
updated May 11, 2013 10:11am

Feb 04, 2013 Bill rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I am amazed (and sickened, frankly) at how dumb (for want of a better word) America has become: I do not understand how it has become socially acceptable, for example, to deny evolution and how it is even acceptable that an adult have the position that they "don't believe it". It is not something to be believed or not believed but rather understood or not understood. This extends to all kinds of truths and our society in general. Why, oh why, has the Catholic Church not simply been disbanded aft...more

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Jan 04, 2012 Elliot Ratzman rated it 3 of 5 stars

Truthers are conspiracy theorists who claim that 9/11 was an inside job, Obama is a foreign born Muslim, JFK was murdered by Hoover, Jews control the world, or some combo of these ideas. The author, a conservative Canadian columnist, has written a fascinating intro to the culture and mindset of conspiracy theorists--their personalities, activism, publications and conferences. Most of the book focuses on 9/11 Truthers, either former anti-war leftists (Richard Falk?!) or Tea Party libertarian type...more

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Dec 23, 2011 Barney rated it 3 of 5 stars

Leave it to a Canadian to offer what may be the most intelligent critique of American Political Discourse in this Age of Competing Horseshit Noise:

"The war is not only shrill, but endless: Since most American conservatives would never actually accept the much smaller government they claim as their goal, their war demands will never be met...so instead, populist conservatives send waves of culture warriors into an unending series of proxy battles...all without much changing of government or preve...more Leave it to a Canadian to offer what may be the most intelligent critique of American Political Discourse in this Age of Competing Horseshit Noise:

"The war is not only shrill, but endless: Since most American conservatives would never actually accept the much smaller government they claim as their goal, their war demands will never be met...so instead, populist conservatives send waves of culture warriors into an unending series of proxy battles...all without much changing of government or preventing it from performing the functions on which we have come to depend. This has pathologized political debate--turning every discussion about legitimate policy areas into a screaming match." (145-46)

I found this book to be mistitled; anyone looking for a in depth treatment of Conspiracy Movements in this country is going to be disappointed. If you want some top-notch political analysis of the effects of conspiracies on the current discourse, this is the book for you. One of the things that most of the Amazon reviewers tend to miss about this text is the emphasis on "pseudo history". I enjoyed Holy Blood, Holy Grail as much as the next guy, but it contained no evidence to support anything. Of course, in this culture, opinion masquerades as fact, and the lack of evidence is consigned to some nebulous conspiracy.

Kay puts this ideology into politics, and there are quite damaging repercussions for politics. If opinions are taken for fact (Bush=Nazi, Obama=Socialist), reason cannot exist. Glenn Beck is a past master at this sort of shit, simply because he does what I call the ol' "Chapter and Verse" trick. Whenever someone challenges Beck on the Fed, or Woodrow Wilson, he pulls out a somewhat obscure piece of legislation about it and challenges the person to explain it to him. When that person cannot, he pounces. It is the same trick used by the Fallwells and Swaggerts of the world; when someone says "The Bible says love your neighbor" they ask "what is the chapter and verse of that?" When that person cannot answer a very obscure question, the loudmouth becomes expert and their opinions carry the weight as facts for people who have limited knowledge.

Watch the Republican Debates or the President's pedantic soundbites. No one ever challenges these people on anything; when they (or anyone else in this fucking country) is questioned, it is a personal attack. We label and do not analyze because we are lazy and really enjoy a good story. Kay finds this a toxic brew for most anything, and I agree completely.
(less)

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Aug 05, 2011 Andrew rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: one-book-per-week-11-12

Let's start by making it clear that I'm not disputing what Kay writes regarding the wrongness of Truthers and other conspiracy nuts. Truthers, Birthers, Holocaust deniers, and anti-vaccine fanatics are wrong, and if you believe their garbage you are an idiot. It is unfortunate, then, that a high-profile and well researched book on the subject is such a failure. Kay undermines his own argument, injects petty political bias into the text, and just comes across as a jerk.

Understanding the psycholo...more Let's start by making it clear that I'm not disputing what Kay writes regarding the wrongness of Truthers and other conspiracy nuts. Truthers, Birthers, Holocaust deniers, and anti-vaccine fanatics are wrong, and if you believe their garbage you are an idiot. It is unfortunate, then, that a high-profile and well researched book on the subject is such a failure. Kay undermines his own argument, injects petty political bias into the text, and just comes across as a jerk.

Understanding the psychological and cognitive processes involved in becoming a conspiracy theorist is the stated project of the book, and a very worthwhile topic. In some cases, Kay does so effectively and thoroughly. For example, his deft disassembling of the use of anecdotal evidence to support the vaccine/autism link may be the best I have ever read. Unfortunately, on other occasions his arguments are so poor that they seem to give a modicum of credibility to the cranks. For example, Kay argues that some people are paranoid about current conspiracies (9/11, NWO, vaccines) because of lack of faith in government. Fair enough. He then goes on to link lack of faith in government with previous conspiracies (Teapot Dome Scandal, Watergate, Gulf of Tonkin) that actually happened. Which makes perfect sense to me, and is most likely true. But when you break it down, he is arguing that conspiracists are wrong because part of their evidence comes from the existence of real-life conspiracies. Which is not exactly logically solid.

Kay is also willing to leave out key facts to make his point, which more seriously undermines his arguments because it could be construed as evidence of media manipulation. For example, in one section on the Bilderburg group, Kay provides a quote from Conrad Black, one of the members of the group, describing what takes place at the meeting. Kay casually mentions that Black "happens to be a colleague of mine". This conjures up the image of another hard-working, ethical reporter or editor at a newspaper. Nowhere is it mentioned that Black was the owner of the National Post and therefore Kay's boss, or that he is currently serving a prison sentence in an American jail for fraud and obstruction of justice. Does Kay honestly think that Black's credibility is not an issue at all? This crosses the line from disingenuous shading of the truth into an outright lie of omission. More importantly, this is precisely the sort of thing that conspiracy theorists believe the media is willfully doing to manipulate information. Is Kay trying to give the wingnuts more ammunition? He readily attacks the credibility of others using their criminal histories, personal lives, or choice of profession (Kay seems to hate poets), so it was evident that some thoughtfulness went into this decision.

At some point, one notices that Kay is seeing conspiracists where none exist. For example, his description of "The Shock Doctrine" by Naomi Klein ("full-fledged conspiratorial fantasy") is so disconnected from its actual contents and from the construct of a conspiracy theory, that the reader wonders if he has even read Klein's book (or his own, for that matter): "Klein had convinced herself that the world was controlled by a cabal of hypercapitalists who'd been personally recruited and indoctrinatted by US economist Milton Friedman". Eventually you realize that Kay is not content to write about the topic of conspiracy theories. Instead, he broadens his reach to include include any belief that powerful, wealthy individuals or groups sometimes use their resources for their own good at the expense of others. Such a belief does not require a conspiracy theory, and more importantly is blatantly obvious; all people look out for their own self-interest, and the powerful are able to do so more effectively. Of course, Kay only mentions or challenges such beliefs when the source is left of center or directed at the state of Israel (which in Kay's mind is by definition anti-Semitic and conspiracist).

Equal time does not mean equal treatment

Kay seems to believe that by including both right- and left-wing cranks, he is being unbiased and objective. What he is actually doing in "Truthers" is advancing a center-right wing agenda by carefully, subtly, and selectively describing both sides so that mainstream conservatives come out in a much more favourable light. For example, when describing the right-wing conspiracy fringe, he describes them with words like "extreme right" and "right wing fanatics". One gets the impression (correctly) that only the extreme fringe of conservatives is involved in such conspiracy theories. But when describing conspiracists on the left, he uses terms such as "leftist college students", "left-wingers", "Stewart-ites", or my personal favourite "the vegan left". This is designed to give the false impression that anyone more liberal than centre-left is a crackpot. Kay's descriptions carve out a place along the political spectrum where one is not a conspiracist, and it is clear that he believes there is more room in this space on the right than on the left.

For example, on one occasion, Kay mentions in passing that the mainstream Left was not able to accept that "one of their own" had assassinated JFK. For Kay, once you are a hair more liberal than left of center, there are no more shades of gray, and all are painted with the same communist/conspiracist brush. At some points, this crosses the line from bias into absurdity, caricature, and pettiness. For example, read the following paragraph and try not to roll your eyes: "Solway's political attitudes had hewn faithfully to the left-wing cant expected of a man who makes his living with poetry. He was anti-American, anti-Isreal, antiglobalization. He read Chomsky with approval, railed against George W. Bush, expressed solidarity with the Palestinaians, smoked pot, went to demonstrations, and lived off government grants". Seriously, was that necessary to make the point that this fellow was liberal before he became a conspiracist nut?

Kay states that he realizes his book will not sway the opinions of any Truthers or other conspiracy nuts, and he is right. Don't bother reading "Among the Truthers" if you want an analysis of the psychological motivations behind conspiracy theories; Michel Shermer, editor of Skeptic magazine, has already done so much more scientifically, more effectively and without needlessly injecting his personal political opinions into his argument. If you are interested in technical debunking of 9/11 Truther myths, read the excellent article in Popular Mechanics. More importantly, if you are interested in conspiracy theories, read the 9/11 Commission Report and you will realize that there was in fact a conspiracy of evil people (Al Qaeda) responsible for the attacks. Having given these recommendations, there are very few people to whom I would recommend "Among the Truthers". I suppose that if you want to congratulate yourself for having the exact same worldview as the editor of the National Post, this is excellent intellectual-masturbatory fodder. (less)

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Jul 18, 2011 Matthew Hunter rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: politics

An extremely worthwhile read! I particularly loved Kay's chapter titled "Tin-Foil Mortarboards", where he argues that academia has been far from immune from conspiracy-friendly thinking. One example: Mary Daly, a feminist theologian I encountered during Divinity School. Specifically, he calls Daly out for her agreement with Sally Miller Gearhart's belief that "the proportion of men must be reduced to and maintained at approximately 10% of the human race." Kay notes that this culling of males - s...more

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Jul 07, 2011 Mary rated it 3 of 5 stars

Very solid book, well researched, with details that were interesting to learn and well presented. I have good friends that are truthers and I have never understood what, why and how they believe what they do. This book helped me, as a logical researcher myself, to understand how seemingly rational people could believe what appear to be just plain crazy lines of thinking.

There were some stylistic downfalls to the massive amount of info presented: chapters that never seemed to logically end, ramb...more

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Jun 03, 2013 Jocelin rated it 3 of 5 stars

At first, I wasn't really feeling this book. A book about conspiracy theories and the people who believe them and try to get the public at large to believe; not interested. It was fascinating because the author got a chance to meet with some of the people who believe these things. The book goes into a small history of the ideas of conspiracy theories and some of the earliest ones. The author gives an insightful look into to certain ideas and remains objective about his subjects. With the increas...more

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Aug 22, 2011 James rated it 2 of 5 stars

Yikes. Well that is not what I was expecting.

I haven't felt compelled to write reviews for most books I've read recently, but this title deserves a PSA.

I always thought I was a fan of learning about people whose experiences are far removed from my own, and with an additional attraction to con artists and conspiracy theories.

Given the title and subtitle of this book, I was expecting something akin to Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do or Gig: Ame ...more

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Jan 09, 2012 Marcia rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction, read-from-the-library

Oh, man, this book. I usually don't finish books I dislike this much, but I kept telling myself I had gotten this far and I really wanted to write a good review so I persevered with it and was able to finish. I guess that's an accomplishment?

I picked this book up because I have an ongoing interest in reading about conspiracy theories and the people who believe in them. "Truthers," or people who believe in "9/11 Truth", the idea that the American government was secretly behind the terrorist attac...more Oh, man, this book. I usually don't finish books I dislike this much, but I kept telling myself I had gotten this far and I really wanted to write a good review so I persevered with it and was able to finish. I guess that's an accomplishment?

I picked this book up because I have an ongoing interest in reading about conspiracy theories and the people who believe in them. "Truthers," or people who believe in "9/11 Truth", the idea that the American government was secretly behind the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, are certainly an intriguing group whose viewpoint is so different from my own (and reality) that I wanted to know what made them tick. Kay's stated mission statement for this book is to not only profile individual Truthers but to also connect them with the greater tradition of conspiracy theories in history and offer "concrete solutions" to combat the growth of such theories in the future. Sounds great, right? Unfortunately, this mess of a book fails to live up to Kay's lofty ambitions.

First of all, before I get into any of my problems with Kay's ideas or politics, let's talk about the writing. Kay has a lively, journalistic style. You can tell that he has a background in reporting. However, this is not necessarily an asset when one is attempting to write a book that seriously analyzes a current movement, as well as broad swathes of history, and attempts to offer new ideas about psychology and politics. While Kay sometimes uses in-text citations, he just as often offers information without showing his source. There are no footnotes, no endnotes, nor even a bibliography. What's more, the language he uses often descends into jingoistic stereotypes. Structurally, he attempts to divide the book into three sections: the first giving a history of conspiracism, the second introducing us to the Truthers themselves, and the third examining the factors in society that enable such conspiracy theories to grow as well as offering solutions to restrict this growth. In reality, he doesn't stick to this format. He jumps from idea to idea and back through out the book, making for a confusing read.

Now, let's talk about the contents of the book. David Kay is a Canadian conservative. I have nothing wrong with this. My problem is with the fact that he never comes out and states that he is a conservative. The book jacket describes him as an editor and columnist for Canada's National Post newspaper. I wasn't familiar with this paper, and I am comfortable stating that the majority of American's probably aren't either. I had to look up the National Post to learn that it's a newspaper known, indeed founded, for its conservative editorial perspective. Kay's conservative views permeate the entire book. This isn't a shock; I don't expect anyone to be able to completely divorce themselves from their political opinions or viewpoint. I do, however, expect that when I am reading a nonfiction book or a piece of reporting, that the author will at least make an attempt at objectivity. Kay fails to do so. When he speaks of far-right conspiracists he is careful to call them "radical," "fringe," or at the very least "far right". When he talks about conspiracists on the opposite end of the spectrum, however, he describes them as "liberals", "left wing college activists--- the type who had constructed their image of America from books by Noam Chomsky or Howard Zinn," or the "university-educated, anti-American, left-wing side of the political spectrum."

One of the central tenets of Kay's book is that academics and the "Ivy League elitists" have pushed the idea that there is no literal, historical truth based on facts, that all truth is subjective. He, of course, knows better (much like the Truther and other conspiracists he profiles); there is inarguable, concrete truth, and it is Jonathan Kay's truth. Big government is evil and everyone knows it, whether they will admit it or not. Campuses have been overrun by "radical feminists" and the proponents of "radical identity politics" who insist on studying made up subjects like African-American or women's history. Anyone who questions Israel's actions towards Palestinians is an anti-Semite, hiding their hatred of Jews beneath the excuse of civil rights. This is like if I, as a liberal, were to right a book about conspiracy theories and label anyone who believe in laissez-faire capitalism or who opposes affirmative action as conspiracists. Kay comes dangerously close to embracing the kind of painting-with-a-broad-brush, blaming the world's ills on a singular group, thinking that he so despises in the conspiracists themselves. It's too bad, because Kay does have some kernels of interesting ideas regarding the psychology of those susceptible to conspiracy theories and how such ideas spread. His own biases and ranting against liberals make these valuable insights hard to take seriously though.

But then again, I'm probably just saying all of this because I am part of the problem, helplessly deluded with my "Marxist" political views and dangerous "anti-racist" thinking. It's all because I've read that nonsense by Chomsky and Zinn, you know.

Luckily for you, I have read a few other, better books about conspiracy theories and can recommend them to you. If you're looking for one tracing the history of conspiracy theories and their influence on politics, I recommend Voodoo Histories by David Aaronovitch. If you want interesting profiles of the people who hold these beliefs, read Jon Ronson's Them, which even features some of the same people interviewed by Kay, but in much more depth.(less)

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May 12, 2013 Kate rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: bizarre, culturalstudies

The whole time I was reading this book, I was in an inexplicable sour mood. I think his negativity seeped into me somehow. I have no truck with truthers or any conspiracy theorists, but after reading such a pompous diatribe I just want to let them be. This review really sums a lot of my thoughts up:

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Here are some gems I flagged from this charmer:

1. The no more racism claim: "What helped me understand the benign origins of this surreal, emperor-has-no-clothe...more

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Sep 09, 2011 Diane rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book starts out as a history of, and explanation for the beliefs of, the "Truthers;" people who claim the 9/11 attacks were orchestrated by the U.S. government. The author presents some interesting facts about the conspiracists, as well as some interesting ideas about what might make them believe outlandish conspiracy theories. Unfortunately, the book rambles in numerous ways. First, the author jumps back and forth between the Truthers and believers in other conspiracies, but he never provi...more

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Dec 26, 2012 Matt rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

As opposed to many reviewers, and somewhat surprisingly given both his position at The National Post and the vitriol levelled at him by said reviewers, Jonathan Kay did not come across as the liberal-bashing neocon I half expected. Rather, his assessment of the conspiracist bent of both the right and left was fair and, I thought, well researched. Despite the lack of footnotes (again, mentioned by one of Kay's more vocal critics), his analysis of what makes conspiracy theorists believe what they...more

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Jun 22, 2011 Wanda rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book was a bit like a sandwich with great bread and just OK filling. The beginning in which Kay traces the history of conspiracy movements in the U.S. and worldwide was quite well done and fascinating. Ditto the end in which he theorizes and tries to explain why, even though some of the conspiracists are educated people, they persist in their wacko delusions. He links the rise of the "truthers" to the internet (in which all narrative is presented uncritically) and postmodernism (in which ev...more

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Nov 15, 2011 Lou rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

I think I'm giving this 2 stars b/c it does have some decent information about the history of conspiracy theories..

Otherwise, it's kind of bullshit, the author's tone comes off as a grumpy asshole uncle, and he seems to put equal weight on all conspiracy theories, and is basically taking the same attitude he accuses conspiracy theorists of, of not really researching and making a convincing intellectual case for what he believes.

Curious who decided on the cover design too- seems like it's designe...more

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Jul 14, 2012 Erik rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is an "Opinion Piece," essentially a lengthy newspaper article on US conspiracy theories. The central premise of this book is that the growing acceptance of conspiracy theories is undermining the basic tenets of rational thought and our confidence in government and authority. Mr. Kay has done extensive research on the subject. However, he has not adequately referenced his work. This is unfortunate, because he presents a very negative assessment of the conspiracy movement and this assessment...more This is an "Opinion Piece," essentially a lengthy newspaper article on US conspiracy theories. The central premise of this book is that the growing acceptance of conspiracy theories is undermining the basic tenets of rational thought and our confidence in government and authority. Mr. Kay has done extensive research on the subject. However, he has not adequately referenced his work. This is unfortunate, because he presents a very negative assessment of the conspiracy movement and this assessment is not backed up with references. This is particularly disappointing given Mr. Kay's legal background. For example, he cites Conrad Black as a reference on Bilderberg conferences and FDR. While Mr. Black's opinions may be valid, his credibility is in question (unless you believe that the legal proceedings are a conspiracy). A little more reseach could have addressed this shortcoming. Likewise, Mr. Kay does not fully develop some of his arguments. For example, he attacks the beliefs of Mary Daly, a "radical lesbian feminist," and explains that her "gynocentric" vision is an explicit endorsement of Eugenics. Mr. Kay's criticism suggests that Mary Daly's beliefs are founded on the notion of "necessity" - it is necessary to fundamentally change the existing "patriarchal" order to address her concerns. However, Mr. Kay does not develop this argument to its logical conclusion - the notion of "necessity" is also used to justify opposing points of view: the belief that it is necessary to abort female fetuses in some developing countries (justified in terms of economic necessity), the belief that it is necessary to murder women who act dishonourably (justified in terms of religious or cultural necessity), and the belief in female circumcision (I am not sure how this can be justified, but clearly some groups believe that this is necessary). This book was entertaining and somewhat informative, but it falls short of the author's aim of creating the understanding needed to defend of the intellectual values of the "Enlightenment."(less)

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Apr 17, 2011 Chad rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

I managed to get an advanced copy of this book, due to hit shelves sometime in May. I have high praise for this work. I could never fully wrap my mind around how so many of my quite intelligent and articulate friends could fall so deeply for so many of the popular conspiracy theories out there, but this book went a long way in furthering my understanding of why and how folks get sucked into such conspiracy theories. The prose and analysis are sharp, and the historical, political, psychological,...more

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Aug 16, 2012 Alan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Among the Truthers does not deal solely with the 9/11 Truth movement. Jonathan Kay begins with a somewhat meandering history of conspiracism, particularly in the United States. I enjoyed the portion where the author describes personal experiences with various truth ears particularly in the US. His visits caused him to reform his attitude towards Truthers though he does not completely believe they are "all nutters". Fortunately, Kay remains among the Truthers, but clearly not of them. Nevertheles...more

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Jan 03, 2013 Dave rated it 4 of 5 stars

Conspiracy theorists that I encounter don't just come from the political right, so I liked Kay's approach. Apparently he's considered a conservative, but he went after the American right and left. Maybe a Canadian conservative works out to be a moderate in America.

I think he overstated the problem, like when he pointed out that both Marxism and Nazism had elements of conspiracy theories-- they both blamed a conspiracy by one group of people for social problems. Well, sure, I guess, and so does e...more

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Dec 28, 2012 Steve rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: real-stuff

A lot of good information, poorly organized and conveyed. It's too bad, because a look into the conspiracist mindset is something I've always been curious to have. When I was taught how to write, we usually wrote an outline and it seems like Kay would have benefited from that sort of structure because many chapters sort of ended, and the book had a lot of "as profiled in the last chapter" references that fell flat because I thought the previous chapter was about a different subject...

I also wish...more

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Aug 02, 2011 Michael Kocinski rated it 3 of 5 stars

Solid writing and well organized. There were a few moments when I felt like Kay was covering for someone, he seemed so certain that anyone asking questions about their government might be a conspiracist. But he doesn't dismiss a few real cover-ups that led to the paranoia of average men and women who believe in conspiracy theories, like My Lai and Watergate, to name two. I commend him for his mostly neutral approach to the subject matter, his fairness in dealing with the wackos he encounters, an...more

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Sep 27, 2012 Geri Hoekzema rated it 3 of 5 stars

The original title (Among the Truthers: A Journey into the Growing Conspiracist Underground of 9/11 Truthers, Birthers, Armageddonites, Vaccine Hysterics, Hollywood Know-Nothings and Internet Addicts) sums up the theme of this book. It's a great choice for those who prefer real-life scary to Stephen King. Unfortunately, as weirdly fascinating as some of these movements and their current rate of growth might be, the book left me with a hopeless feeling that we're stuck in a downward spiral that w...more

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Aug 10, 2011 Brad rated it 3 of 5 stars

About a quarter of the way through:

- Kay seems to give short shrift to actual conspiracies such as Watergate which seem to give conspiracists good reason for suspicion -- or at least confirmation of their worst fears, even if the scale of their imagined conspiracies far exceeds the scope of any real-world examples.
- While the book gives a good overview of the history of conspiracy theorists and some of the most popular current-day theories, I really expected to get more of a sense of why some pe...more

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Jan 17, 2013 David Bales rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013

A bizarre and rather disturbing journey through the American swamp of conspiracy theorists, "truthers"--who deny the facts of 9/11 despite overwhelming evidence, "birthers" and a potpourri of other conspiracies, the fanciful convictions behind them often held by otherwise normal, functional people. After a few chapters of this your brain begins getting a little soft and one's temperment irate. Jonathan Kay's analysis is a little more indulgent than mine is. Kay is a reporter with Canada's Nation...more

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Oct 01, 2012 DeLace Munger rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

I so very thoroughly enjoyed this book and I also happen to enjoy learning about conspiracy theories.

Are you a conspiracy theorist? Chances are that you believe in at least one even if you don't know it. There are theories of all kinds and Kay makes it abundantly clear that the various believers and the theories themselves show some patterns.

This is not a book that attempts to debunk the conspiracy theories because they are just that: theories. He apparently considered a debunking book but his p...more

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Feb 15, 2012 Elizabeth marked it as abandoned

Shelves: history, politics, social-science

Why do otherwise intelligent and reasonable people believe in conspiracies? And why do these otherwise intelligent and reasonable people interpret every piece of contradictory evidence (a new report on the rising CO2 concentration, or a paper linking vaccines and autism being retracted from a prestigious journal) as evidence that the conspiracy is ever vaster (not that the planet is actually warning, or that vaccines don't actually cause autism)? Whence our contempt for expertise and evidence?

I'...more

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Dec 30, 2011 Margaret Sankey rated it 3 of 5 stars

Canadian Jonathan Kay has produced a field guide to the full political spectrum of truthers (notable for including a full range of Canadians as well as Americans)--political conspiracy theorists from the left and the right, alien abductees, anti-vaccine people, anti-Semites, Holy Blood Holy Grail nuts, birthers, 9/11 theorists and failed historical romantics. They all share what Voltaire defined as madness, "to have erroneous perceptions and then reason correctly from them," seeing a pattern and...more

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Oct 22, 2011 David rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

Among the Truthers is a good, though somewhat inconsistent, look at the nature of conspiracy theories and the people that believe them. The best part of the books was the beginning where Kay examines the history of conspiracy theories and then examines the aspects of American society that support a seemingly large group of conspiracy theorists in the United States. Kay does a great job of showing the similarities between modern conspiracy theories and much older theories, by examining the common...more Among the Truthers is a good, though somewhat inconsistent, look at the nature of conspiracy theories and the people that believe them. The best part of the books was the beginning where Kay examines the history of conspiracy theories and then examines the aspects of American society that support a seemingly large group of conspiracy theorists in the United States. Kay does a great job of showing the similarities between modern conspiracy theories and much older theories, by examining the common characteristics and the exact same rhetoric that is used by both. The second part of the book examines the different types of people who tend toward this kind of behavior. Kay does a good job throughout the book of presenting that many Truthers aren't nut-jobs in the way that we may think they are, rather they are somewhat normal people with a hobby obsession that is kinda crazy. Also I think that Kay does a nice job of presenting the similarities and differences between right-wing conspiracies and left-wing conspiracies. There is a difference between being crazy and believing crazy things. The end of the book seemed a little weak once Kay gets into the question of how to combat or prevent belief in conspiracy theories.

Some weaknesses of the book are that at times Kay has a hard time drawing a distinction between conspiracy theory and strong political belief, especially when examining left of center politics. For example, I feel that it is possible to believe that CEO's of major corporations are out to make as much money as possible (which of course is their job), and that this behavior may not be the healthiest way for a business to interact with society, without believing that there is a conspiracy by major banks to take all the nation's money or some sinister plot. There was a point in the book where I felt that he was unhealthily blurring the line between these two ways of thinking. Another weakness is that I felt Kay doesn't adequately address the differences between conspiracy theories (e.g. 9/11 or JFK assassination or Pearl Harbor, etc. was an inside job) and actual "conspiracies" (e.g. Watergate or Gulf of Tonkin). There are aspects of US history that are striking examples of abuse of government power, but there are big differences between the types of logic, evidence, and thought that are attached to a conspiracy theory, that just aren't there in actual conspiracies. I think that this distinction is even more important because the theorists often use the existence of actual conspiracies to support their belief in conspiracy theories.

Overall, I would say that Among the Truthers was a good read, 3-3.5 stars. I liked the history of conspiracy theories and the fact that he kept the book more about the people who believe the theories rather than going in depth about any of the theories themselves. (less)

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Dec 03, 2011 Robb Terranova rated it 3 of 5 stars

Still not sure if I really liked this book, a study of the proliferation of conspiracy theories including the "never happened" theories such as the holocaust never happened, the landing on the moon never happened, the 9/11 plane crashes never happened.

I've seen the way these conspiracy theories often spread as if blown by an explosion. Too many people seem to be of the opinion that #1), if it's on the internet it's probably true; #2, if someone says it was in the news, it's probably true; #3, i...more

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Aug 10, 2011 Andrew rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book really should have ended at chapter 7, after that it turned a half way decent expose on fringe culture and made it into an incomprehensible scree against "leftist" and the "politically correct". The problem with attacking those ideas, not that they are above reproach, is that the author used the same fuzzy logic he was condemning "Truthers" for using to make his point. Overall this book is a fluff piece, no real debunking of conspiracies, a way too brief history of conspiracy theories...more

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