Conspiracies of conspiracies : how delusions have overrun America

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. "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." -- Amazon.com Between Pizzagate, QAnon, and the now ubiquitous cries of "fake news," it's tempting to think that we're living in an unprecedentedly fertile age for conspiracy theories. 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 Konda traces the country's obsession with conspiratorial thought from the early days of the Republic up to our own anxious moment. Conspiracies of Conspiracies details centuries of sinister speculations-from anti-Semitism 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 shows that conspiracy theories are less a harmless sideshow than the dark and secret heart of American political history-one that threatens to poison the bloodstream of our increasingly sick body politic Introduction: Conspiracy Theories And Conspiracism -- The Invention Of Conspiracy Theory: The French Revolution And The Bavarian Illuminati -- Conspiracism Takes Shape In The United States -- Preconditions For Modern Conspiracism: Jewish Assimilation, Premillennialism, And Aryan Occultism -- The International Jewish Conspiracy And The Secret Government -- The Emergence Of The Hidden Hand -- The Rise And Fall Of The Hidden Hand -- From Neo-nazi To White Supremacist Conspiracism -- The Emergence Of The New World Order -- The Conspiracy Of Personal Destruction -- The Planners Take Over -- Pan-ideological Conspiracy Theories: Denialism And Cover-up -- Conspiracism Proliferates: Some Anomalies -- Christian Identity And The White Race -- The Government Conspiracy Against Us -- Conspiracism Rebounds: Truthers, Birthers, And The New Militias -- Conspiracism Enters The Mainstream -- The Attack On Science -- Democracy And Civil Society. Thomas Milan Konda. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.