Voodoo Histories

December 15, 2009
An Orwell Prize–winning British journalist examines a dozen conspiracy theories and why they matter.

Did Lee Harvey Oswald act alone? Was Marilyn Monroe murdered? Did the U.S. government bring down the Twin Towers? Conspiracy theories, writes The Times (UK) columnist Aaronovitch (Paddling to Jerusalem: An Aquatic Tour of Our Small Country, 2000), are invariably unlikely and implausible, but they often seep into the popular culture and meet real needs. The author describes the key proponents and tenets of each conspiracy theory and the"evasions, half-truths, and bad science" on which most are based. Readers may grow impatient with his detailed explications—the theories are well-known nonsense—but they allow him to show how fringe thinking can spread through the Internet and mass media and color our understanding of historical events. Aaronovitch notes that the Arab world still widely invokes The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a fraudulent document claiming that the world will be ruled by a supreme Jewish autocrat, and that by the 1970s the young and educated in the United States and Europe believed in a Kennedy assassination conspiracy. The writes that conspiracy theorists have much in common. They always cite similar earlier conspiracies, insist they are simply raising disturbing questions, rely on endorsements from celebrities and academics with exaggerated credentials and claim that they are being watched by authorities."The government has been trying to sell us a pack of lies," said one woman about 9/11. Unfortunately, such charges enjoy a patina of credence because of genuine U.S. government coverups, including Watergate and the Iran-Contra Affair. But the real reason educated, middle-class individuals circulate conspiracy theories is the human need for a story, writes the author. We crave order, cannot tolerate the chaos of random events and are quick to insist that"they" (Jews, communists, big corporations, etc.) are responsible.

Sometimes rambling, but helps explain our fascination with the proverbial crock.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

February 1, 2010
In this impressive new study of contemporary conspiracy theories, British journalist Aaronovitch (London "Times") analyzes a plethora of explanations that have surfaced over the past several decades for such mysteries as who shot the Kennedy brothers, how Marilyn Monroe died, whether our astronauts really landed on the moon or were part of a huge NASA scam, and what was the real 9/11 plot. Beyond providing a systematic analysis of both how conspiracy theorists present their cases and what the actual facts are, as they are known in 12 different historical cases, Aaronovitch delves into the psychology of what makes conspiracy theories attractive in the first place. Humans always seek comfort in knowing exactly what has happened, and the absence of certainty (because of the way history is) makes us susceptible to those who think they know more than we do. There is comfort in thinking that historical events cannot have random causes but must operate instead from some preconceived (and often diabolical) notion. VERDICT This is fascinating stuff and absorbing reading that gives us a better understanding of why conspiracy theories are so popular and what the factsin factindicate. Recommended.Ed Goedeken, Iowa State Univ. Lib., Ames

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from February 1, 2010
Like Michael Shermer in Why People Believe Weird Things (1997), or Damian Thompson in Counterknowledge (2008), Aaronovitch tackles the intriguing question of why people accept as factual things that are patently (and provably) untrue. Most of the popular conspiracy theories are here: 9/11 as an inside job; the faked moon landings; the secret Zionist world empire; the Priory of Scions mission to safeguard the bloodline of Jesus; the murder of Vince Foster; the noncitizenship of Barack Obama. Aaronovitch demonstrates where the theories go off the rails (the Priory of Scion was a hoax concocted in the mid-1950s, for instance), and he examines the reasons why elaborate conspiracy theories, despite being so implausibly complex, capture the imaginations of so many people. Its due to a mixture of credulity, a lack of critical reasoning, a need for an underlying explanation for the inexplicable, andperhaps most importantan inability to distinguish between the possible and the wildly implausible (for example, which is more likely: that astronauts actually went to the moon, or that thousands of people, including the astronauts themselves, perpetrated, and are still perpetrating, a mammoth hoax?). The author also examines the role the Internet now plays in disseminating, and lending apparent validity to, crackpot theories. The book is an evenhanded, lively, and fascinating look not just at the people who believe these theories but also at the people who promote them: the evidence manipulators, the liars, the con artists, and the almost pathetically gullible and uninformed.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)