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Among the Truthers: A Journey Through America's Growing Conspiracist Underground Hardcover – May 17, 2011

by Jonathan Kay (Author)
3.7 out of 5 stars 110 ratings
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From 9/11 conspiracy theorists and UFO obsessives tothe cult of Ayn Rand and Birthercrusaders, America is suffering from an explosion in post-rationalistideological movements. In Among the Truthers,journalist Jonathan Kay offers a thoughtful and sobering look at how socialnetworking and Web-based video sharing have engendered a flourishing of new conspiracism. Kay details the sociological profiles of tenbrands of modern conspiracists—the Failed Historian,the Mid-Life Crack-Up, the Damaged Survivor, the Campus Revolutionary, theStoner, the Clinical Case, the Puzzle Solver, the Christian Doomsayer, the CosmicVoyager, and the Egomaniac—in a compelling exploration of America’s departurefrom reason and what it means for the very future of rational discourse as thenation steps further into the 21st century.
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  1. Print length
    368 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Harper
  4. Publication date
    May 17, 2011
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 1.17 x 9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0062004816
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0062004819
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“A well-researched and provocative account of our most baffling conspiracies.” — Kirkus Reviews

From the Back Cover

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.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harper
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 17, 2011
  • Edition ‏ : ‎ Canadian First
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 368 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0062004816
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0062004819
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.24 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.17 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.7 out of 5 stars 110 ratings

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3.7 out of 5 stars
110 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book provides great insight into contemporary conspiracism, helping readers understand the dynamics behind conspiracy theories. Moreover, the writing style receives positive feedback for being well-written and easy-to-read.

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21 customers mention "Insight"17 positive4 negative

Customers find the book insightful, providing a great exploration of contemporary conspiracism and helping readers understand the dynamics behind conspiracy theories.

"...First of all, it is about the group as a social and psychological phenomenon. It is not about the events of 9/11...." Read more

"...I learned a great deal about the foundations of conspiracism, patterns of conspiracism, and the anti-semitic origins of many conspiracies...." Read more

"...Harold Macmillan, former Prime Minister of Britain that is most appropriate for this book: "That if you work hard and diligently you should be able..." Read more

"...Bottom lines: Kay's examples are fascinating but his science is out of date...." Read more

12 customers mention "Writing style"10 positive2 negative

Customers appreciate the writing style of the book, finding it well written and easy to read, with one customer noting its excellent background description.

"...On the whole it is well written and entertaining for anyone who is interested in conspiracy theorists and their theories...." Read more

"Kay's writing style is excellent. One may not agree with the content, but you won't be bothered by stilted, poorly written sentences...." Read more

"...He summarized them very well and was able to pick out key points that all conspiracy theories have in common...." Read more

"...], an anecdotal account; but this work explains so much in well-structured arguments and well-organized descriptions without going ad hominem...." Read more

10 customers mention "Readability"10 positive0 negative

Customers find the book to be an excellent and fun read.

"...On the whole it is well written and entertaining for anyone who is interested in conspiracy theorists and their theories...." Read more

"...Particular in Chapter 5. It is an excellent, informative and fun read. One final note about the negative reviews by truthers...." Read more

"...Excellent read. Easy read. Good business." Read more

"...For the most part, the book is entertaining, kind to its subjects, and intriguing...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • James B
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Portrayal of an Interesting Social Phenomenon
    Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2011
    Verified Purchase
    On the whole, a rather well written and interesting book, for anyone who is actually interested in the subject. Obviously, reading the reviews, the Truthers themselves either have not read it or do not understand it, so I will clear up a couple of misconceptions about what this book is about.

    First of all, it is about the group as a social and psychological phenomenon. It is not about the events of 9/11. The Truthers want it to be about that, because they want to be taken seriously. Sorry, that moment passed after the 15th time that you repeated, falsely, that the hijackers are still alive or that a plane did not crash into the Pentagon. Sorry, it is not about that. If you want to write a book about that, than do so, but don't criticize the book based on the fact that you would not have written it. If you are not interested in the subject, which the author makes quite clear, than simply don't read it. Secondly, although the truthers claim the author refused to look at their claims, he makes it quite clear he did, and points outs several resources which most truthers probably refuse to even look at, he just decided not to write about this subject, for reasons he makes clear.

    What the author does do is present the conspiracy theorists and investigate what types of people they are and what motivates them to devote their lives to their delusions. In this, he is actually rather polite and even handed, much politer than I would have been, but obviously does not agree with their worldview. The author actually goes to great length to point out how intelligent and dedicated they are. In this he actually does quite a lot of research in going to their events and talking to their leaders (as opposed to works written by the conspiracy theorists themselves, which as the author points out, rarely stretches beyond searching up other conspiracy theorist websites on the Internet).

    My only criticism would be the section on academics, which seems somewhat disjointed, but that is minor. On the whole it is well written and entertaining for anyone who is interested in conspiracy theorists and their theories. And let's face it, as cable television has shown, weird people are entertaining.
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  • Ned D Ferguson
    4.0 out of 5 stars The Madman is not one who has lost his reason, but everything except his reason.
    Reviewed in the United States on June 17, 2011
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    Kay's writing style is excellent. One may not agree with the content, but you won't be bothered by stilted, poorly written sentences. I learned a great deal about the foundations of conspiracism, patterns of conspiracism, and the anti-semitic origins of many conspiracies. As Kay notes, anti-semitism plays a significant role in many conspiracy theories. Kay traces the origin of modern conspiracism to a nasty Russian anti-semitic tract known as The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Though many conspiracies are not anti-semitic, many still follow the same pattern presented in The Protocols by mere substitution of players. I was never aware of the existence or history of The Protocols. That history lesson alone (coupled with the author's review of Zamyatin's 1920s novel "We", a precurser to Orwell's 1984) is worth the price of reading the book.

    Noteworthy takeaway quotes:

    "When a critical mass of educated people in a society lose their grip on the real world--when they claim that George W. Bush is a follower of Nazi ideology, that Barack Obama is a Muslim secretly plotting to impose Sharia law on America, that the United States government is controlled by Israel, or that FEMA is preparing to imprison political dissidents in preparation for a totalitarian New World Order--it is a signal that the ordinary rules of rational intellectual inquiry are now treated as optional."

    "The conspiracy community regularly seizes on one slip of the tongue, misunderstanding, or slight discrepancy to defeat 20 pieces of solid evidence; accepts one witness of theirs, even if he or she is a provable nut, as being far more credible than 10 normal witnesses on the other side; treats rumors, even questions, as the equivalent of proof; leaps from the most minuscule of discoveries to the grandest of conclusions; and insists, as the late lawyer Louis Nizer once observed, that the failure to explain everything perfectly negates all that is explained." --Vincent Bugliosi, Reclaiming History

    "It is not unusual for intellectuals and politicians to reject their opponents' arguments. But it is the mark of an intellectually pathologized society that intellectuals and politicians will reject their opponents' realities."

    "What is madness? To have erroneous perceptions and to reason correctly from them." --Voltaire

    GROW THICK SKIN

    Your toes will be stepped on when you read this book, unless you're one of those non-committal, apolitical moderates with a weak pulse (if such people indeed exist.) To read the reviews here is humorous. Each critic has his own grievance. Kay manages to include just about everyone in his critique. I resolved before reading to not take the criticism personally. I have a fair number of disagreements with the author, but I didn't let them get in the way of enjoying the book. I actually like the Among the Truthers very much despite being, to a degree, one of its targets.

    Since everyone gets criticized, there is also something in the book for everyone. Advocates for their own position will be gratified to see opposing views "get theirs." The author concedes that it is very unlikely that he will change anyone's mind due to the human tendency to seize confirming evidence while filtering discomfirming facts for the mental garbage can. For this reason, instead of panning the book, smart Truthers will encourage initiates to read it as a primer. The author does a very good job of summarizing key people and factions within the Truther movement.

    GOVERNMENT: WE DON'T TRUST YOU

    There is no doubt that the single biggest factor fueling most every variety of conspiracy theory is a lack of trust in our government. They haven't given us much reason to trust them. Kay agrees:

    "The proportion of Americans who say that they "basically trust their government" has dropped from a high of 73 percent in 1958, when pollsters first asked the question, to just 22 percent in 2010. And there is a direct line from this statistic to the men and women profiled in this book."

    Government must earn our trust. Wariness of totalitarianism is a good thing in my view. Today we are witnessing great lurches in that direction. Big government is spending us all into bankruptcy. There is no accountability. Corruption is rampant. Private property is under assault. Radical environmentalism and crony corporatism is out of control. Politicians misrepresented social security from the beginning. The mainstream media is held in the same contempt, and is now viewed primarily by many (myself included) as a mere propaganda arm of government. Such an environment is a recipe for conspiracism. Politicians have themselves to blame for the mishmash of extreme distrust of which rampant conspiracism is a symptom.

    WEAK ON ECONOMICS

    Kay holds a view of capitalism common among intellectuals:

    "Unfettered American capitalism in the nineteenth century permitted a concentration of economic power in a small handful of banks and conglomerates, whose abuses summoned into being a populist backlash, which in turn spurred the creation of an intrusive regulatory state."

    This is a demonstrably false view of history that conflates free market capitalism with mercantilism or crony-capitalism. That is, government/business partnerships. The difference is vast. The "concentration of economic power in a small handful of banks and conglomerates" was due, not to unfettered capitalism, but government "fettering" of the same.

    On Ayn Rand: "Both of these men [radical conspiracists] follow faithfully in the tradition of Ayn Rand, whose radicalized fear of government seems to have taken root when the Soviets took over her father's pharmacy in St. Petersburg."

    "...this also happens to be the time in life when many young people are looking to define their identity through the sort of radical, overarching secular faith conspiracism provides (which is one of the reasons so many college students fall hard for Karl Marx or Ayn Rand)"

    Well, count me among those with a "radicalized fear" then. Much of the soviet-style encroachment into private property and business depicted in Atlas Shrugged is now taking place. (Among other things, the Kelo v. New London decision completely ignored the plain, unambiguous language of the constitution.) I am struck that much of what I read of Rand (to a point, mind you) is not dissimilar to what was written by several of the founders. For example:

    "...man has to sustain his life by his own effort, the man who has no right to the product of his effort has no means to sustain his life. The man who produces while others dispose of his product, is a slave." -- Ayn Rand

    NO LOVE FOR TEA PARTY, GLENN BECK, SARAH PALIN, RUSH LIMBAUGH, ET AL.

    "The [Tea Party] ideology on display roughly coincides with the nativist, homophobic, socially conservative right-wing fringe of the Republican Party, but with an even heavier dose of paranoia and freaked-out America-gone-to-Gomorrah sensationalism."

    The author indicts Glenn Back, in part, by pointing out that Glenn flirted with the FEMA camp conspiracy "for a time." Fair enough. What he actually said was he "wanted to debunk them, but can't" and "If you trust our government, it's fine" but if you don't the scenario is a matter for concern. In other words, he believed the government could potentially use FEMA for oppression based on the information he had at the time. After investigating further, he demurred and actually invited both Ron Paul and Popular Mechanics onto his television show to DEBUNK the "FEMA camp" myths. That sounds to me like an honest man going where the facts lead and revising his views to match the evidence. Isn't that what Kay purports to encourage us to do?

    Nevertheless, government so-called emergency powers should be a concern for Americans. They can, and have been, used as tools of oppression. Most notably in prosecuting the Civil War and during the FDR fascist years. Those who have no idea what I'm talking about should investigate history. Under FDR, persons who violated the law by charging TOO LITTLE (during the depression) for goods or services actually went to jail. That's not conspiracy mongering, it's historical, verifiable fact.

    The author offers the following indictment of Sarah Palin:

    "Other right-wing conspiracists, including no less a political celebrity than the Republicans' 2008 vice-presidential candidate, accused Barack Obama of creating "death panels" that would send the old and crippled to early graves."

    Kay makes disparaging reference to the Tea Party fear of the "Cloward-Piven Strategy" and says that the Tea Party characterization contains only a "grain of truth."

    Kay takes exception to Tea Partiers who tag President Obama as a Marxist.

    Rahm Emmanuel did in fact say the following; "You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before." Echoing Emmanuel, Hillary Clinton repeated the same thing before European Parliament. In other words, every crisis is an opportunity to expand government power. Hillary Clinton did in fact say "We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good." That's Marxism. It is a sentiment that Obama shares and has repeated, albeit in different words (remember Joe the plumber?) If you take the position that rhetoric of that kind is not a matter for concern then we surely disagree. Rhetoric precedes action. When politicians routinely demonize certain groups ("The Rich" for instance) they are a target for persecution, if not elimination.

    I do not disagree with the author's assessment of Tea Party positions. He gets it essentially right. I disagree with his diminution of Tea Party concerns, which I do not believe are vastly overblown.

    I find one Tea Party statistic cited by Kay disturbing, if accurate: "...more than half of self-declared Tea Party supporters said the government should maintain or increase its involvement in poverty eradication."

    SEE ONLY WHAT IS THERE

    My advice for avoiding the decent into paranoia is to force oneself to see only what is there. Many innocents have been unfairly convicted on circumstantial evidence. The practice of restraint is easier said than done. I find that I must constantly steel myself to keep from going to far in assigning hidden motives and secret plans. It is better to examine direct actions, direct statements, and real consequences.

    Antigonish, by Hughes Mearns

    Yesterday, upon the stair,
    I met a man who wasn't there
    He wasn't there again today
    I wish, I wish he'd go away...

    Everyone will take something unique from this poem. I think it illustrates the fears created by our minds. We often fear imagined things. Things that are not really there. Inferences. Future anxieties that never come to pass. Hidden agendas. Paranoias.

    Look away! Do not look at the man who is not there. Do not meet him on the stair.

    MY VERY OWN 911 CONSPIRACY THEORY

    911 Conspiracists effectively work for Muslim jihadists. They betray us by shifting the blame from Muslim terrorists to the very targets of the terrorists themselves, whether it be Americans or Jews. They twist victims into perpetrators and make themselves apologists for those seeking to destroy us. Wait. That's not a conspiracy. It's actually happening.

    Recommended additional reading: Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • CineHound
    5.0 out of 5 stars A vital aid to combating the modern disease of conspiracism
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 13, 2020
    Verified Purchase
    A superb work, now almost a decade old but prophetic in so many aspects, particularly in calling out antisemitism on the left as well as the right.
    The prose is effortless and easy-flowing, taking the reader through a journey that is entertaining and terrifying in equal measure.
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  • JS Rioux
    5.0 out of 5 stars Well-written, well-researched and very interesting read
    Reviewed in Canada on July 1, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    I lived in the USA in the 1980s and 1990s during many of the events that gave rise to several "conspiracy theories" about, say, UN black helicopters and concentration camps for gun owners (Branch Davidians; Timothy McVeigh bombing in OK City; etc.). Jonathan Kay begins with more current theories such as Truthers and Birthers and seeks to identify common themes among them. Although he is not a social scientist by trade, his model of key elements in conspiracy theories could have been written by a sociologist. In the end, his argument is that if we want rational discourse to prevail in today's Internet culture where every view can go unchecked, we must understand the patterns of "conspiracism" (my words) and learn to detect them.

    Jonathan Kay writes very well, the analysis is compelling, it's a very interesting book.
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  • Albert Moessmer
    4.0 out of 5 stars Ein sehr aktuelles Buch über die Welt der Verschwörungstheorien
    Reviewed in Germany on January 20, 2012
    Verified Purchase
    Das Buch gibt einen umfassenden Überblick über die bekanntesten der heutzutage grassierenden Verschwörungstheorien, darunter die "9/11 Truthers", die "Birthers" (die bezweifeln, dass Obama in den USA geboren wurde), Impfgegner, diejenigen, die eine Verschwörung mächtiger Interessensgruppierungen hinter dem Attentat auf John F. Kennedy vermuten, und sogar David Ickes Fantasien über echsenartige Wesen aus einer anderen Dimension, die unsere Welt regieren. Jonathan Kay hat viele der bedeutendsten aktuellen Verschwörungstheoretiker interviewt, war auf Versammlungen und ist bei ihren Protestmärschen mitgegangen. Aber er geht auch auf historische Hintergründe ein und behandelt anti-semitische Phänomene sowie Verschwörungstheorien in Bezug auf die Freimaurer und Illuminaten. Dabei zeigt der Autor, dass er sich ziemlich tief in die Thematik eingearbeitet hat. Der Untertitel heißt zwar "A Journey Through America's Growing Conspiracist Underground", aber dieses Phänomen ist natürlich in Europa genauso aktuell, auch wenn hier die Akzente etwas anders gesetzt sind.
    Das Buch hätte eigentlich fünf Sterne verdient, wenn der Autor nicht im letzten Abschnitt die sogenannten "neuen Atheisten" Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris und Christopher Hitchens angreifen würde. Zwar steht es ihm frei, Kritik an den Religionskritikern zu üben, aber mit den Verschwörungstheorien hat dies nichts zu tun. Er scheint anzunehmen, dass Werte von der Religion kommen und untermauert dies mit einem absurden Zitat von Voltaire, in dem dieser meint, Atheisten seien Monster, die zu allen Gräueltaten bereit wären. Leider scheinen sich weder Voltaire noch der Autor dieses Buches Gedanken darüber gemacht zu haben, woher humane Werte kommen.
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  • Roger Clark
    4.0 out of 5 stars Distrubing - America is heading for the rocks
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 20, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    This is a most disturbing book. It's a little dry, but I've read it twice and find it's arguments convincing. I think the author is right. The Truthers are doing immense damage to rational discourse. Their numbers are increasing and they are undermining the democratic system and America. You've only to read their ravings amongst the one star reviews on Amazon's American site to see how deranged some of them are.

    It's their hatred of genuine expertise I find so disturbing. Anyone with genuine knowledge is immediately suspect. In the past you could dismiss these fringe loonies. But the author demonstrates many are now found in the educated middle class. When they start spouting junk watch out. America is heading for the rocks and with it the free world if it fails to deal with the problem.

    Another book worth reading is "Voodoo Histories: How Conspiracy Theory Has Shaped Modern History" by David Aaronovitch.
    He, too, is worried by the influence conspiracy theorists are having.
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  • Mirman
    4.0 out of 5 stars Kudos to Kay
    Reviewed in Canada on October 17, 2011
    Verified Purchase
    As previous reviews have pointed out, Among the Truthers is not a perfect book in that it occasionally loses focus or gets side-tracked on one of the author's pet themes. It may also be overambitious in attempting to bring so many disparate conspiracy theories, and other assaults on truth and reason, under a single umbrella.

    However, the book deserves high praise for its rationality, intellectual honesty, and far-ranging scholarship. Kudos to Kay for his courage in tackling the troubling subject of conspiracism in the computer age, for his keen insight into its dogmas and methodology, and for his recognition of the threat that focusing on the trees instead of the forest poses to the intellectual underpinnings of Western Civilization.

    Conspiracism is the polar opposite of the scientific method, in that its practitioners settle on their beliefs or arrive at their conclusions first, and then go searching for proof of what they already hold to be true. As Kay points out, the evidence they gather usually consists of nothing more than shards of information that cannot be readily squared with the obvious, or official, interpretation of a given event. However, each of the carefully-harvested tidbits nevertheless gets enshrined in a litany of reasons why the accepted version of the event is a "Big Lie."

    Tirades about Kay's political orientation, former newspaper columns, views on Israel, and the like, are befogging techniques employed by conspiracists, but such information casts little or no light on the work itself, which deserves to be evaluated on its own merits.
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