Conspiracy Theories

by Robin Ramsay

Did you think the X-Files is fiction? If so, you must be one of those deluded fools who think Elvis is dead, believe that the US actually went to the moon, and don't know that the ruling elites did a deal with the extra-terrestrials after the Roswell crash in 1947...Boy, it really is getting strange out there. At one time, you could blame the world's troubles on the Masons or the Illuminati, or the Jews, or One Worlders, or the Great Communist Conspiracy. Now, in addition to the usual suspects, we also have the alien-US elite conspiracy, or the alien shape-shifting reptile conspiracy to worry about - and there are books to prove it as well! Conspiracy Theories - they are all in here - but not just lined up to be ridiculed and dismissed. OK, there is some of that, but the author also tries to sort out the handful of wheat from the choking clouds of intellectual chaff. For, among the nonsensical Conspiracy Theory rubbish currently proliferating on the Internet, there are important nuggets of real research about real conspiracies waiting to be mined. This book has done the mining for you. Fully sourced and referenced, this is both a serious examination of Conspiracy Theories and the Conspiracy Theory phenomenon, and a guide to further explorations of the subject.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics

Hardcover

First published December 1, 2000

Reviews

[Nandakishore Mridula · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought this was an analysis of conspiracy theories. It's not. it seems to be a book-length opinion piece on how and why conspiracy theories are generated. Boring.

[Dimitris Hall · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Conspiracies are real and by no means necessarily the product of a paranoid imagination. If this little book has a single message, this is it. But, as the Kennedy assassination showed, there is not just one big over-arching conspiracy. There are many smaller conspiracies, some of them competing, interlocking, overlapping..."

Insightful little book that shows how conspiracies are run-of-the-mill popular politics. Research into them, however, is undermined by the "conspiracy theory" and "conspiracy theorist" stereotype which has been fueled by deliberate government disinformation and distraction tactics (such as alien abductions and a great part of the UFO conspiracy paraphilology: who's going to care about the real and very obvious conspiracies when there's aliens out to get us?), propaganda and your standard simplistic, absurd, "over-arching" conspiracy theories: Jewish bankers, Illuminati, Masons etc.

[Matthew Broman · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was alright, it was very well written and cited in my opinion even thought I disagree with alot of her views on the many theories out there. I would describe this author as a leftist liberal type and a non-believer in the theories she discusses in this book which makes it ironic because the book is about "conspiracy theories". But, as stated before, I will give her credit because the book is well written and very well referenced and opened me up to a new perspective on these issues even if I don't personally agree with her

[Michael McGuinness · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting book in that it is one of the few books that looks at the conspiracy theory phenomenon from a broad left point of view. It cuts through the bullshit very effectively while at the same time taking seriously those aspects of the modern world and the political system which are conspiratorial. This is hard to find in conspiracy theory literature, which usually takes a sensationalist tone, or a patronisingly debunking one.

[Marlaina McCauslin · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked up this little jem at a Barnes and Noble clearance rack and now i realize why it was there. I thought that it was about each conspiracys and the facts towards them. However, it was about how they couldn't possibily be true. i hated this book and wanted to burn it in the flames of Hell

[Johanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

very interesting, the basic premise being that whilst we are busy being distracted by huge conspiracy ideas - (the ridiculous and the vaguely plausible) we are not noticing what and who is actually pulling the strings.

Off to find out more about Betty Trout and her line dancing aliens :-)

[Ajay Ajay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too much of things, not proven, had just been picked up in this work. Even empirical verifications are not much, and the book seems to be depending too much on own deduction or hearsay!!

Those who like this theme may still pick it up for understanding an alternate world, where such possibilities still occur.

[Angela Reeves · Rating 1 out of 5]

dull