- Paperback: 276 pages
- Publisher: Touchstone (19 Dec 1997)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0684871114
- ISBN-13: 978-0684871110
- Product Dimensions: 22.9 x 15.6 x 1.7 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 788,430 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
Conspiracy
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First Sentence
Conspiracy theories-fears of nonexistent conspiracies-are flourishing in the United States. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Conspiracy theories-fears of nonexistent conspiracies-are flourishing in the United States. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Hair-raising and hilarious in equal measure - like, for instance, Zvi Ben-Dor Benite's The Ten Lost Tribes, but more accessible. There are many books that shine a torch into dark corners (Why People Believe Weird Things etc etc) but they'll always be outnumbered, and doubtless outsold, by more weirdness. It used to be table-turning. Pipes has done his homework; this book is authoritative. A joy.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
25 reviews
18 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Very good book, concise and illuminating
1 Dec 1997
Format:Hardcover
I found this book to be an excellent survey of the various different strands of conspiracy theories. Pipes goes through the long historical pedigree (if such a word is appropriate) of conspiracy theories, and he sets out a pretty good model for how to tell the difference between a nutty conspiracy theorist and a person with a healthy critical skepticism of the motives and actions of the government and other groups. While he is sometimes a bit too dismissive of those who agree with some conspiracy theories, his book is a useful antidote to the pseudo-intellectual quackery that many conspiracy theorists arm themselves with, and he shows the very real danger that these theories, when unchecked, can cause (e.g.: antisemitic theories and Nazism, antigovernment theories and the Oklahoma City Bombing). He also does a pretty decent job of putting the theories and theorists into a larger cultural and political context. However, for a good primer of conspiracies, real and imagined (I think, largely imagined), I'd also recommend reading "The 60 Greatest Conspiracies of All Time" by Jonathan Vankin and Ed Whalen (I think that is their names). Both of these books will keep you riveted, and introduce you to some fascinating and little-known facts.
22 of 29 people found the following review helpful
The smaller the mind, the larger the conspiracy...
26 Mar 1998
Format:Hardcover
Mr. Pipes follows the history of conspiracism and determines that it has two separate and distinct main threads: anti Semitism; and secret societies. There is occasional overlap and crossover between the two, but in general they have remained apart. While his research appears sparse at points, that may be due to the huge scope of his view, and to the very real difficulty in researching the essentially unresearchable (for example, how far can one study a "secret society" before losing oneself in the contradictions of myth, fact, and most revealing, myths accepted as facts?). At times the thread pursued by the author seems tenuous, but he does make a telling case in support of his thesis of these two dominant strains of conspiracism. Most chilling of all is his discussions of nations where conspiracism has become official state policy, specifically Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Soviet Union. I would have liked more indepth study of postwar American conspiracy theories, such as UFOs, the UN, and connections, if any, with various New Age beliefs, but that's my own particular interest. Mr. Pipes is mainly concerned with a broader historical picture.
While Mr. Pipes follows these twin paths of conspiracism, he demolishes the most widely accepted belief of the conspiracy theorists, that there are continuous sects and societies behind everything, and that all we see is simply the outward manifestation of their centuries long struggle for dominance. Make no mistake - the postulation of a continuous thread of conspiracism is not the same as accepting the existence of the conspiracies spanning generations and continents. While this book can not claim to be the definitive word on the subject (unless and until the Illuminati, the Elders of Zion, the Trilateral Commission, and the Rosicrucians open their archives), it does provide an interesting overview of conspiracism and demonstrates that the weirder paranoids among us have a long, if not distinguished lineage.
His encouraging conclusion that conspiracism has been increasingly marginalized (at least in the West) since the Second World War is offset somewhat by real world examples of collision between these conspiracists and the rest of society, e.g. Waco, Ruby Ridge, and Oklahoma City. Perhaps the greatest danger of modern day conspiracism is the extent to which preventive or corrective measures may backfire - how many of us are uncomfortable with the government's handling of the three cited cases, and of those, how many will be moved to align themselves with extremist groups?
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful
a good concise history of conspiracies
11 July 1998
Format:Hardcover
Mr. Pipes has written a well documented account and history of conspiracies across the ages. I do feel that he doesn't fully appreicate the degree that "conspiracy" thinking has infliltrated America today. Overall, a wonderful effort by Mr. Pipes to examine and explain the often "unclear" and baffling world of "conspiracy theories." This isn't the definitive work on "conspiracies"; it's worldviews and history, that I've been waiting for, but it is a step in the right direction.
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