Conspiracies of Conspiracies: How Delusions Have Overrun America

CONSPIRACIES OF CONSPIRACIES                  THOMAS MILAN KONDA

It’s tempting to think that we live in an unprecedentedly fertile age for conspiracy theories, with seemingly each churn of the news cycle bringing fresh manifestations of large-scale paranoia. But the sad fact is that these narratives of suspicion—and the delusional psychologies that fuel them—have been a constant presence in American life for nearly as long as there’s been an America.

In this sweeping book, Thomas Milan Konda traces the country’s obsession with conspiratorial thought from the early days of the republic to our own anxious moment. Conspiracies of Conspiracies details centuries of sinister speculations—from antisemitism and anti-Catholicism to UFOs and reptilian humanoids—and their often incendiary outcomes. Rather than simply rehashing the surface eccentricities of such theories, Konda draws from his unprecedented assemblage of conspiratorial writing to crack open the mindsets that lead people toward these self-sealing worlds of denial. What is distinctively American about these theories, he argues, is not simply our country’s homegrown obsession with them but their ongoing prevalence and virulence. Konda proves that conspiracy theories are no harmless sideshow. They are instead the dark and secret heart of American political history—one that is poisoning the bloodstream of an increasingly sick body politic.

PAT'S REVIEW

A well-written book that takes a look at some of the conspiracies of how they came about and how they can affect people. I think the author was trying to show that conspiracies have been around for ages, which they have changed over the years, some have not. Some people still have issues with the Federal Reserve I don’t know if that is a conspiracy or not, just as people believe in aliens hidden below area 51. Over the course of time, these get to be believed whether it is by a former worker or government employee and then that person ends up injured and then it is on with the next phase of conspiracy. Each one has its origin and the author tries to do his best in showing how long it has been around or just how some are silly, he does not say that I do. As a child people kept saying that death camps and the holocaust did not happen and yet my father a grunt was there and say one of the camps told me about it and had no reason to lie because he was a kid from an orphanage that joined the Army. This author does a good job of breaking down the conspiracy and the reason behind them, overall a good book. I received this book from Netgalley.com I gave it 4 stars. Follow us at www.1rad-readerreviews.com