Product Description

Our age is obsessed by the idea of conspiracy. We see it everywhere - from Pearl Harbour to 9/11, from the assassination of Kennedy to the death of Diana. Bookshop shelves threaten to collapse under the weight of texts devoted to proving myriad conspiracy theories true, while even quality newspapers and serious TV channels are prepared to give them credence. For David Aaronovitch, there came a time when he started to see a pattern. These theories used similar dodgy methods with which to insinuate their claims: they linked themselves to the supposed conspiracies of the past (it happened then so it can happen now); they carefully manipulated their evidence to hide its holes; they relied on the authority of dubious academic sources. Most importantly, they elevated their believers to membership of an elite - a group of people able to see beyond lies to a higher reality. But why believe something that entails stretching the bounds of probability so far? Surely it is more likely that men did actually land on the moon in 1969 than that thousands of people were enlisted to fabricate a deception that they did. In this entertaining and enlightening book - aimed to provide ammunition for those who have found themselves at the wrong end of a conversation about moon landings or twin towers - Aaronovitch carefully probes and explodes a dozen of the major conspiracy theories. In doing so, he looks at why people believe them, and makes an argument for a true scepticism: one based on a thorough knowledge of history and a strong dose of common sense.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17901 in Books
• Published on: 2009-05-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 368 pages

The Guardian
`a useful book about an important subject'

The Independent
'gloriously readable... Aaronovitch fillets conspiracy theories brilliantly'

The Times
'a rich and fascinating account, and the unpicking of the conspiracy theories themselves is especially instructive- and entertaining'

Customer Reviews

Honest and intelligent, backed up by some real research
In this book, Aaronovitch looks into why many otherwise sane and rational people buy into the more outlandish conspiracy theories which litter modern social history, from the fraudulent and rabidly anti-semitic 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion,' manufactured in order to justify the persecution of Jewish people, to the '9/11 was an inside job' fantasists with their fraudulent pseudo-science and often dangerously anti-semitic propagandist agenda.

Others examined, in no particular order, are:

- the Stalinist show trials of the 1930s, where every failure of the Soviet industrial system was scapegoated onto 'conspiracists' singled out for persecution

- the conspiracy manufactured by right-wing 'America First' elements in the USA to discredit FDR by fraudulently claiming him 'responsible' for the Pearl Harbor attack by the Imperial Japanese Navy in December 1941 (it turns out that the IJN was apparently not let in on FDR's 'conspiracy', but carried out the attack because they thought they could sink US battleships)

- the Senator McCarthy witch-hunts in the 1950s against largely non-existent communists allegedly trying to wreck the USA from within

- attempts to 'conspiracise' the deaths of JFK, Marilyn Munro and Diana POW

- the highly profitable and surprisingly durable fantasy perpetrated by Baigent, Leigh et al about the alleged bloodline of Christ surviving through the Merovingians and the Templars up to modern times, side-tracking into the theories of such diverse and successful alternative-history authors as Erich Von Daniken and Graham Hancock

- the death of Hilda Murrell, finally proven beyond doubt to be murdered randomly by a local deranged criminal psychotic but at the time publicly 'conspiracised' by Tam Dalyell and others

- the suicide of Dr. David Kelly, fraudulently and clumsily conspiracised as a 'murder' by a serving Liberal MP Norman Baker

Each conspiracy claim is examined in forensic detail and the conspiracy-theorists' methods dissected and exposed with wit and intelligence. Aaranovitch is a genuinely thorough investigative journalist and has obviously read all the conspiracy books he reviews and attended conspiracists' meetings. He understands his source material, and has done his research.

The mechanism of conspiracy-theory generation is analysed with insightful and occasionally hilarious detail. A common list of components includes the citing of historical precedent ('there were conspiracies before in history, so therefore this must be one too'), frequent adoption of supporting pseudo-science, the weak and lazy 'we're just asking questions' line and a determination to ignore any and all evidence which demonstrates the theory to be wrong. Oh, and conspiracy-believers often claim to be 'under surveillance' to add spice to their otherwise small and humdrum lives.

In attempting to explain why otherwise sane and rational people choose to adopt a conspiracy-theory belief system, Aaronovitch has an interesting theory rather too detailed to explain in a short review. In brief, he demonstrates that throughout history conspiracy-theorists are generally found to be losers; those whose political views have often been marginalised or defeated by the mainstream and find comfort in adopting a belief-system that 'they' are somehow responsible for the failures and misfortunes. It is comforting to believe that Those Who Have Power are secretly controlling the world, and that you are part of a small select band of heroes who 'knows.' Some people find a narrative of intention and design comforting, and cannot accept the random and accidental element responsible for most of history's major events.

How comforting to believe, like some mediaeval peasant, that 'They' - the secret government, the Intels, the Jews, the bankers, or whoever - control everything and pull the strings, that you are privy to this secret knowledge and understanding, and superior to those who do not understand the conspiracy as you do. You can justify your own miserable failures because 'They' are plotting against you, and you can't win.

Even if you have no interest in conspiracy-theory belief systems and their propagation to the ignorant and the gullible, I recommend this book as a good read: it's excellently written, witty, dispassionate and thought-provoking, and a fine and original analysis of an interesting modern phenomenon.

An interesting book, as far as it goes
Aaronovitch has written a useful summary of a number of conspiracy theories which are well known to the general public; Diana, JFK, 9/11 etc. he's also laid out some, though by no means all, of the debunking evidence. But really that's as far as he's gone. The subtitle of the book is 'The Role of the Conspiricy Theory in Shaping Modern History'. So, readers would expect an analysis of how history has been shaped and what effects this has had on government policy, public opinion and the discussion of history itself. Instead all we get is a few vague statistics on how many people believed a particular theory a few years after the event. Honestly, if you have access to any internet encyclopaedia you're probably wasting your money.


I was also disappointed that he dismissed (rightly) the Holy Blood and Holy Grail ideas but didn't use the same analysis on Christianity as a whole. There is as little evidence for the existance of Jesus as there is for a survival of this particular bloodline.

A cry for common sense
Very simply, this the basis of this book is a number of alleged conspiracies. These include the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, US involvement in the attack on Pearl Harbour, secret service involvement in the killings of JFK, Marilyn Monroe, Princess Diana and others, and US and Israeli involvement in 9/11.

Aaronovitch describes how the conspiracy theories arose, how they were propogated and evidence which finally debunks each of them in turn. He also goes further in examining the long term, frequently disastrous effects of belief in the specious conspiracies (particularly the Protocols) and also how adherents frequently continue to cling to their beliefs often long after they have been discredited, employing frightening Looking Glass logic that the weight of opposition is proof of veracity.

Overall the book is a plea for rationality and enlightenment over woolly thinking and credulity. One highly amusing but slightly unsettling chapter deals with Christ's bloodline where we find the exponents stating that in order to prove their theories they need to go beyond normal scholarship. Sounds good ? Nope its just means that the application of rigourous analysis makes their house of cards come tumbling down..

The book is not as some (and some reviews) have claimed a call for total belief in the word of government and unquestioning acceptanve of what we are told. It is precisely the opposite of those things, it is a call to examine all evidence with a genuinely open and rigourously analytical mind.

Overall the book is excellent, easily readable, intelligent, thought provoking and highly entertaining.