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Voodoo Histories: How Conspiracy Theory Has Shaped Modern History [Paperback]

David Aaronovitch (Author)

3.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (32 customer reviews)

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Book Description

Publication Date: 6 May 2010

Did Neil Armstrong really set foot on the moon?

Was the United States government responsible for the 11 September attacks?

Should we doubt the accidental nature of Diana's death?

Voodoo Histories entertainingly demolishes the absurd and sinister conspiracy theories of the last 100 years. Aaronovitch reveals not only why people are so ready to believe in these stories but also the dangers of this credulity.

*Includes a new chapter investigating the conspiracy theories that question Obama's legitimacy as president *

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Did Neil Armstrong really set foot on the moon?

Was the United States government responsible for the 11 September attacks?

Should we doubt the accidental nature of Diana's death?

*Includes a new chapter investigating the conspiracy theories that question Obama's legitimacy as president *

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Product details

Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: Vintage (6 May 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 009947896X
ISBN-13: 978-0099478966
Product Dimensions: 14.4 x 24.9 cm

Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (32 customer reviews)

Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 25,423 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #100 in Books > Society, Politics & Philosophy > Social Sciences > Cultural Studies > Popular Culture

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Product Description

Review

"A handbook to be cherished by anyone who would rather have the unvarnished truth" (Daily Mail)

"Superbly researched, wittily written and eminently sane" (Andrew Roberts Literary Review)

"Gloriously readable" (Independent)

"Dazzling debunkery" (Scotland on Sunday)

"This book leaves us in no doubt that arriving at the truth is a vital matter - at times a matter of life and death" (John Lloyd Financial Times)

Book Description

A stinging assault on the shocking, dotty and sinister world of modern conspiracy theories by the award-winning journalist David Aaronovitch.

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Customer Reviews

3.1 out of 5 stars

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21 of 22 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Intelligent and witty, Aaronovitch takes on the conspiracy-delusion peddlers and is (mostly) on target 23 Oct 2011

By The Guardian TOP 100 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

You can be reasonably confident in advance that a book will be worth reading if it has conspiracy theorists in rant-mode and foaming with indignation: a raw nerve has obviously been poked. Such a book is David Aaronovitch's `Voodoo Histories' which exposes the delusional ideological framework at the heart of conspiracy-theorist psychology.

This US version of Aaronovitch's original UK-biased text, which includes the conspiracy theories surrounding Obama's birth, doesn't disappoint - though it might have had more bite. Erstwhile radical anti-establishment journalist 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 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion,' manufactured by 19th century Czarist police to justify the persecution of Jewish people and enthusiastically promoted by Adolf Hitler and Henry Ford (of all people); to the '9/11 was an inside job' fantasists who employ ignorant pseudo-science to feed dogmatic belief-systems and multiple fringe political-propagandist agendas, Aaronovitch takes us on a fascinating, instructive and frequently amusing ride through a parade of delusional ideologies to be found just beneath the surface of contemporary society, and does a mostly effective job in deconstructing them....

In addition to those cited above, other conspiracy theories examined in the book are:

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

- the conspiracy theory manufactured by the right-wing 'America First' political lobby to discredit FDR by claiming he had foreknowledge of the Pearl Harbor attack by the Imperial Japanese Navy in December 1941

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

- attempts to 'conspiracize' 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 (which enabled fiction-writer Dan Brown to become a millionaire), side-tracking into the theories of such diverse and successful alternative-history authors as Erich Von Daniken and Graham Hancock

Aaronovitch is a thorough investigative journalist who takes the trouble to read and study all the pro-conspiracy books and attend the meetings; he understands his source material and has done his research. A list of common CT-components is identified: the citing of historical precedent and employment of flawed logic ("there were conspiracies before in history, so this must be one too"); parroting the weak and lazy "we're just asking questions" and "challenging the official version"; the focus on supposed `anomalies' in the absence of supporting evidence for the CT; and a determination to ignore, bury and discount all evidence which might prove the CT to be wrong. Promoters also ape the academic convention of citations and footnotes, but only cite each other in a closed loop which passes the gullible enquirer from one believer to the next, whilst brushing aside all the really hard evidence as "supporting the official story."

In attempting to explain why some otherwise apparently rational folks fall for this stuff, Aaronovitch has insight enough to see that the superficial subject of the theory (whether the death of Diana POW seen as a `murder by MI6' or `there were no planes on 9/11: it was all holograms') has little to do with the reason people cling to it so zealously. People hold on to these delusions for personal psychological reasons, so adherence to such dogmas cannot be effectively argued with because the normal rules of logic and evidence do not apply in the proponents' world. Like other writers before him (Professor Michael Barkun for example, or Peter Knight) Aaronovitch identifies a proneness to CT-thinking as a characteristic of political and economic losers; there is 'a quantum of solace' in adopting an ideology that 'THEY' (the so-called `New World Order', the Trilateral Commission or the `Bilderburgers', the UN, the `Secret World Government' or whatever) can be blamed for everything. It is more comforting to believe in evil puppet-masters flawlessly executing massive conspiracies to fool millions of people and further their own agendas than to work with the deeply nuanced complexities of the real world: no investment of work or time is needed to become part of a small band of heroes who `know the truth.'

So conspiracy theories, Aaronovitch argues, attempt to impose order on the random chaos of the real world and so `improve on reality.' Whilst inventing a more complex and improbable explanation and ignoring the principles embodied in the Occam's Razor rule, they infantilize adherents by explaining events in terms crafted to force-fit their limited paradigms, offering an easily digestible and dumbed-down narrative which can be sold to `believers'. Look at a website promoting a CT-view of the world, or watch a 10-minute video on youtube, and suddenly you can become privy to secret knowledge and understanding, superior to the 'sheeple' (a common CT pejorative, like 'shill') who haven't wasted their time with these things (or just as likely, have seen through their pretensions) and therefore don't understand the conspiracy like you do. You can now justify your own relative failures because the sinister `THEY' are responsible for everything; you have hate-figures to rail against, suddenly `everything is connected' and makes sense.

Far from heaping (often deserved?) scorn on conspiracy theorists, Aaronovitch exhibits generosity of spirit and seeks to understand rather than condemn. In fact, he lets CT-proponents off much more lightly than might be expected (an exception might be Mohammed Fayed who - together with his brother-in-law and Dodi's uncle, the notorious arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi - were responsible for manufacturing and disseminating ALL the Diana murder-conspiracy narratives to a gullible international constituency).

Even if you have little interest in the propagation of CT-ideologies, 'Voodoo Histories' can be recommended as a commendable piece of writing. It's witty, dispassionate and thought-provoking, and a fine - if not entirely original - analysis of an interesting modern phenomenon. The author does demonstrate that adherence to these delusional ideologies occasionally has serious consequences - i.e. the fraudulent `Protocols' were used by the Nazis to convince people that `(Jewish) bankers, financiers and internationalists' were planning a sinister conspiracy to `erode the borders between nation-states, bring in a single global currency, take over the world and enslave the people': legalized persecution and eventually mass human exterminations as official State policy were thus justified.

Readers genuinely interested in the psychology of the CT-phenomenon might also like to check out `The Nature and Purpose of Political Conspiracy Theories', 'Political Paranoia v. Political Realism: On Distinguishing between Bogus Conspiracy Theories and Genuine Conspiratorial Politics' and `Conspiracy Theories and Clandestine Politics' by Jeffrey M. Bale. Professor Michael Barkun's `A Cult of Conspiracy - Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America' in which the author analyses the historical development of pick-and-mix `Improvisational Millennialism' and categorizes conspiracy theories into distinct types which each perform a different psychological function, also makes a good (and more academically rigorous) companion to Aaronovitch's more populist work. Read more ›

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29 of 33 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars They Knew 5 Jun 2010

By Pete VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

This is an enjoyable trip through many of recent history's most popular conspiracy theories. The recurring theme is the tendency for apparently intelligent people to challenge "official" stories with a deep scepticism, yet fail to apply any level of critical scepticism at all to their own ideas. There are some interesting common themes and tendencies throughout these, and the conclusion makes interesting observations about our need to find neat narratives in an otherwise indifferent and chaotic world, as well as the odd fact that it tends to be people with plenty of academic qualifications who propagate these stories.

Where he really succeeds is in his ability to tell these stories while (largely) holding back on excessive ridicule or ranting, allowing theories to collapse under their own preposterous contradictions with only a bit of prodding. These are strongest where subsequent evidence (e.g. DNA testing) has incontrovertibly disproved a theory that at the time seemed backed by very strong evidence.

These are generally viewed across the political spectrum, although his portrayal of Noam Chomsky as a sensible chap with no time for daft theories is quite surprising. I liked the observation that much of this is "history for losers", explaining why the collapse of popular beliefs isn't really the fault of the believers but of some invisible omnipotent power - it's interesting to see the vehemence of the JFK theories arising from the awkward fact that Oswald was a fairly hard-core leftie.... Read more ›

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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A riveting read. 30 May 2011

By Sauniere

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book is excellent. It looks at many conspiracy theories, such as JFK, marilyn monroe and the holy blood, holy grail/da vinci code. The author then quite convincingly and amusingly knocks down the theories. I would recommend this book.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars brilliant 26 Dec 2011

By Mr. Straves

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Voodoo Histories is an interesting book on conspiracy theories to say the very least. It was quite an eye opener, even for someone who has read quite a bit on conspiracy theories, though I don't believe most of them and have changed my views on a couple of them as a result of reading this. The only thing not convincing is the debunking of JFK assassination conspiracy theories which get nowhere the same amount of spent on them as many of the other theories in the book. Writer David Aaronovitch not only disproves many theories (with nothing more then facts and a good dose of logic which is desperately needed) but show's the dangers of them. He shows how belief in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion has fueled anti-Jewish conspiracy theories not only in the past (where it helped cause the rise to power in Germany of the Nazis) but into the present day as well and how some theories seem suited only to a certain time period. For anyone seeking not just a good debunking of many of the outrageous, the not so seemingly outrageous conspiracy theories or a look at what power these theories can have, I heartily recommend Voodoo Histories.

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6 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent 19 Feb 2011

By Davey

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Very readable account of a range of conspiracy theories. The current obsession with conspiracies can be ammusing, but it's at times quite frightening; the pseudo-intellectual backing for 9/11 conspiracy theories, for example, summed up very well by an commentator in The Australian newspaper:

"In this scholarly mirror universe, where truth and fiction are equally interesting so long as they titillate the creative intellect, and where a generalised hostility to Western interests can pass as a proxy for political progressivism, the old hard Left and the new far Right join together in a splendid danse macabre, Black and Red carolling in joyous euphony."

My only complaint is the subtitle: "How Conspiracy Theory Has Shaped Modern History". That sounds too much like something a conspiracy theorist would say!

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars A Turd.

Aaronovitch was a willing participant in one of the greatest conspiracies of this century. He supported the Neo Cons' and Blair's case for an invasion of Iraq post 9/11 and with... Read more

Published 5 days ago by Darth_Awesome

5.0 out of 5 stars A readable and intelligent counter to so much conspiracy idiocy

This exploration of a series of events around which conspiracy theorists have gathered over the years can probably best be summed up by the old adage, a version of Occam's Razor:... Read more

Published 2 months ago by Stafford Steve

4.0 out of 5 stars Ideal reading for those of a questioning turn of mind

Very interesting and thought provoking book. At its most enjoyable when you remember the newspaper reports of the time. Read more

Published 3 months ago by Gillian Allen

1.0 out of 5 stars Truth Seekers unite.

David Aaronovitch is one of those smug, self opinionated wind bags that quite often appears on the BBC as he is regarded as a safe pair of hands and part of the establishment. Read more

Published 4 months ago by Geoff

3.0 out of 5 stars voodoo histories

This is, apparently, a very well researched book that deals with a variety of historical and more recent events where conspiracy theory plays a part, even today. Read more

Published 7 months ago by peter

1.0 out of 5 stars Conspiracy is all there has ever been.

In the book, Arronovitch implies that conspiracy theorizing is the passtime of inferior people. I would like to point out to him and the reader that, ever since we, as a species,... Read more

Published 9 months ago by tomhorn

4.0 out of 5 stars Detailed research, disappointing analysis

I bought Voodoo Histories on the basis of the subtitle "How Conspiracy Theory has shaped modern history". Read more

Published 16 months ago by S. N. C. Lovell

2.0 out of 5 stars interesting but with bias!

An interesting book. However the author supports NO possibility of any conspiracy, any form of corruption and seems as bias and at times as anecdotal as the books and people he... Read more

Published 22 months ago by certainly

1.0 out of 5 stars Easily fooled ?

In 2003 the political commentator David Aaronovitch wrote these words on the Iraq war and the search for the weapons of mass destruction supposedly held by the regime:... Read more

Published on 15 Jun 2011 by zingari

3.0 out of 5 stars Thou doth protest too much

One thing you'll never get around is the fact that people *want* to believe in conspiracies, to justify their own bias.

Published on 3 Jun 2011 by Blitzkrieg Bopper

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