Conspiracy Theories: A Guide to the World's Most Intriguing Mysteries

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No surprise, then, that Conspiracy Theories and the People Who Believe Them, a recently published collection of essays edited by Joseph Uscinski, takes an expansive view of the topic. Dense, enigmatic and polyvocal, 2666 blends fact with fiction and documentary with invention to comment on the fraught and murderous nature of Mexican-American history. A couple of decades, a BCALA literary award, and a three-book deal later, my wild imagination has grown into a passion for exposing the truth.

JFK, Karl Marx, the Pope, Aristotle Onassis, Queen Elizabeth II, Howard Hughes, Fox Mulder, Bill Clinton--all have been linked to vastly complicated global (or even galactic) intrigues. Jews and Muslims in the White Supremacist Conspiratorial Imagination explores how Jews and Muslims are stigmatized and endangered by the same conspiratorial template. Why do people get so fascinated by these ideas that often have little or no evidence to support them? The chapter discusses Russia, Turkey and Afghanistan, and explains that politicians in those countries are ‘prone to secrecy, infighting, and intrigue as a style of politics’, which makes ‘conspiracy an attractive—and often effective—rhetorical strategy’ (Scott Radnitz, 348). Part of why we think that is because our levels of trust in those in power has plummeted in recent years.Explore this compelling collection of unexplained circumstances and uncover hidden agendas, startling allegations, and baffling evidence. The only thing that can keep this book from having the impact it deserves is a vast, academic conspiracy. Levy defines this as a collective psychosis of humanity that wreaks havoc on the world around us – a psychosis that we must face down before we can hope to defeat it. The project is a reading of conspiracy theory as an index of a certain strain of late 20th-century American despondency and malaise, especially as understood by people experiencing downward social mobility.

Morton Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago and author of Authoritarian Apprehensions: Ideology, Judgment, and Mourning in Syria.

A spin-off of Kossy’s zine of the same name, Kooks is a kind-spirited examination of several conspiracy theorists, aspiring cult leaders, and miscellaneous cranks. Lance deHaven-Smith reveals that the term “conspiracy theory” entered the American lexicon of political speech to deflect criticism of the Warren Commission and traces it back to a CIA propaganda campaign to discredit doubters of the commission’s report. These novels explore conspiracy theories both “real” and fictional, showing how history blends with fiction and speculation can supplement fact. In a way, each conspiracy theory – like a story – attempts to simplify the complexity of an event into a stable, unified narrative, with a clearly traceable agency and explicable motive.

Fenster's progressive critique of conspiracy theories both recognizes the secrecy and inequities of power in contemporary politics and economics and works toward effective political engagement. With seeming coincidences piling up around significant events, it's no wonder so many theories have emerged over the years. It analyses conspiracy theories from a variety of perspectives, using both qualitative and quantitative methods.Conspiracy theories can no longer be simply dismissed as the product of a pathological mind-set located on the political margins.