Five of the best books about conspiracy theories

https://www.theguardian.com/books/article/2024/jul/25/five-of-the-best-books-about-conspiracy-theories

Five of the best books about conspiracy theories

From Covid misinformation to the JFK assassination, these compelling reads explore how conspiracies seduce believers

James Ball
Thu 25 Jul 2024 07.04 EDT

Effective conspiracy theories draw in believers by appearing to give a glimpse behind the curtain, of how the world really works, while preserving a sense that even in the modern technological era, there are still mysteries beyond most people’s understanding.

The problem is that most conspiracies come at a cost. It might seem harmless to believe aliens have made contact with humans, but suggesting that terror attacks were “false flags” or that secret societies are abducting children can fracture communities, provoke violence, and tear families apart.

That mix of silly and serious, compulsion and repulsion can make books on conspiracy theories very compelling. These are five of my favourites – all about conspiracies, rather than spreading them, of course. Forewarned is fore-armed, after all – knowing how conspiracy theories work, what they have in common, and how they’ve spread before is crucial to understanding how they might be stopped.

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Culture Warlords: My Journey Into the Dark Web of White Supremacy by Talia Lavin
To write this book, Talia Lavin went where most of us would be loath to tread, spending a year or so of her life in some of the nastiest far-right corners of the internet. Through a mixture of undercover online work with various personas and some gutsy attendance at in-person conferences, she shows not just the workings of the fringes, but how their views are “laundered” into the mainstream by seemingly more innocuous influencers.

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