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The Mammoth Book of Conspiracies
The Mammoth Book of Conspiracies uncovers 100 cover-ups "they" really don't want you to know about. This collection delves into some of the biggest lies in history.
512 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2012
38 people are currently reading
144 people want to read
About the author
Jon E. Lewis
134 books42 followersJon E. Lewis is a historian and writer, whose books on history and military history are sold worldwide. He is also editor of many The Mammoth Book of anthologies, including the bestselling On the Edge and Endurance and Adventure.
He holds graduate and postgraduate degrees in history. His work has appeared in New Statesman, the Independent, Time Out and the Guardian. He lives in Herefordshire with his partner and children.
From: Constable & Robinson
He holds graduate and postgraduate degrees in history. His work has appeared in New Statesman, the Independent, Time Out and the Guardian. He lives in Herefordshire with his partner and children.
From: Constable & Robinson
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
February 11, 2021
It started off as quite interesting with a very mixed set of conspiracies but I soon tired of the sloppy grammar and repetitive structure of it. Definitely would’ve worked better as a short pocketbook of theories or something, there were just too many in this.
That said, the USA is terrifying.
That said, the USA is terrifying.
August 26, 2024
Book Review
Title: The Mammoth Book of Conspiracies by Jon E. Lewis
Genre: Non-Fiction, Conspiracy Theories
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Writing this review was a little difficult since it is just a collection of conspiracy theories with the author commenting on some of them and providing documentation for others. That being said, some of these “chapters” are long enough to comment on but others are extremely short. Due to this, I will be selecting a few to talk about throughout the collection and summing up my thoughts on the entire thing at the end. Early in the book, we get some of the classic conspiracy theories like Area 51, Big Brother and Osama Bin Laden which many people are going to know about, but the first that caught my attention as Aum Shinrikyo. Aum Shinrikyo is a Japanese cult that carried out biological attacks using sarin gas on the people of Japan, the conspiracy was that the group was planning to take over Japan, which was true, and they sought out several ways to assume more power.
The Fidel Castro chapter was amazing as it provides documentation to prove that the US, specifically, the CIA plotted and attempted to assassinate Fidel Castro several times and he survived every single one, although there were a few plans that never saw the light of day. The star is the document, which is a CIA Inspector General’s report on the assassination plots, which details the many plans that the CIA had, the ones the attempted to carry out and the ones they didn’t. Knowing now that this was proven to be fact technically doesn’t make it a conspiracy theory, but it was an interesting read. Another chapter that was extremely interesting but also proven to be fact was the one on the Ford Pinto. Essentially, Ford created the Pinto and found a huge design flaw that meant even at low-speed collisions the car would likely catch fire due to the positioning of the fuel tank. Although this flaw was brought to the executives, they decided that the payout from lawsuits would cost less than recalling and fixing the vehicles already in circulation. This means that they knowingly put profit ahead of the safety of their customers and faced severe backlash for it when it became public knowledge.
There are many chapters that focus on conspiracy theories surrounding a singular person like JFK, Michael Jackson, Jack the Ripper and Princess Diana which are all very well known by most people, so I am not going to discuss them. However, the author’s view on cases like the Ripper Murders were interesting and differ from my own theories on the case. Another chapter that I found interesting was the one on P2. P2 or Propagation Two was a Masonic Lodge tied to the Vatican Bank and while being investigated for money laundering, the leader was found and a plot to take over Italy was uncovered. This lodge was involved in the plotted takeover of the country as well as assassination of several key political figures and was funded by the Italian Mafia and the CIA.
The last one I am going to discuss in this review is the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. As the name suggests, this chapter focuses on a syphilis study that took place in Tuskegee in 1932 involving almost 400 black men. The study originally began to find a cure or treatment for syphilis, although the men involved thought they were being treated for “bad blood”. However, this dark undertones show through when penecillin became widely available in 1947 and was being used successfully to treat the disease. However, the researchers made the conscious decision to withhold the medication in favour of seeing what happened in the end stages of the disease leading to the unnecessary deaths of many involved. By 1966, the whistle was blown on the study when it was brought to the attention of the CDC who actually wanted to continue the study until all the participants were dead. In the end of the 399 men involved, only 74 survived with many wives and children also contracting the disease leading to massive payouts for them and in 1997 a ceremony was held to apologize by the White House.
Now, the Tuskegee study wasn’t the only medical experiment that results in unnecessary deaths but it was one of the first to take place outside the acts of war where researchers knowingly deprived people of life-saving medicines. Overall, the book was interesting and would recommend it to people who are interested in conspiracy theories but doesn’t know a lot of details about them. Since if you are like me and know a lot about conspiracy theories there will be whole sections where you already know everything the author is discussing and are only sticking around for the original documents included in the book.
Title: The Mammoth Book of Conspiracies by Jon E. Lewis
Genre: Non-Fiction, Conspiracy Theories
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Writing this review was a little difficult since it is just a collection of conspiracy theories with the author commenting on some of them and providing documentation for others. That being said, some of these “chapters” are long enough to comment on but others are extremely short. Due to this, I will be selecting a few to talk about throughout the collection and summing up my thoughts on the entire thing at the end. Early in the book, we get some of the classic conspiracy theories like Area 51, Big Brother and Osama Bin Laden which many people are going to know about, but the first that caught my attention as Aum Shinrikyo. Aum Shinrikyo is a Japanese cult that carried out biological attacks using sarin gas on the people of Japan, the conspiracy was that the group was planning to take over Japan, which was true, and they sought out several ways to assume more power.
The Fidel Castro chapter was amazing as it provides documentation to prove that the US, specifically, the CIA plotted and attempted to assassinate Fidel Castro several times and he survived every single one, although there were a few plans that never saw the light of day. The star is the document, which is a CIA Inspector General’s report on the assassination plots, which details the many plans that the CIA had, the ones the attempted to carry out and the ones they didn’t. Knowing now that this was proven to be fact technically doesn’t make it a conspiracy theory, but it was an interesting read. Another chapter that was extremely interesting but also proven to be fact was the one on the Ford Pinto. Essentially, Ford created the Pinto and found a huge design flaw that meant even at low-speed collisions the car would likely catch fire due to the positioning of the fuel tank. Although this flaw was brought to the executives, they decided that the payout from lawsuits would cost less than recalling and fixing the vehicles already in circulation. This means that they knowingly put profit ahead of the safety of their customers and faced severe backlash for it when it became public knowledge.
There are many chapters that focus on conspiracy theories surrounding a singular person like JFK, Michael Jackson, Jack the Ripper and Princess Diana which are all very well known by most people, so I am not going to discuss them. However, the author’s view on cases like the Ripper Murders were interesting and differ from my own theories on the case. Another chapter that I found interesting was the one on P2. P2 or Propagation Two was a Masonic Lodge tied to the Vatican Bank and while being investigated for money laundering, the leader was found and a plot to take over Italy was uncovered. This lodge was involved in the plotted takeover of the country as well as assassination of several key political figures and was funded by the Italian Mafia and the CIA.
The last one I am going to discuss in this review is the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. As the name suggests, this chapter focuses on a syphilis study that took place in Tuskegee in 1932 involving almost 400 black men. The study originally began to find a cure or treatment for syphilis, although the men involved thought they were being treated for “bad blood”. However, this dark undertones show through when penecillin became widely available in 1947 and was being used successfully to treat the disease. However, the researchers made the conscious decision to withhold the medication in favour of seeing what happened in the end stages of the disease leading to the unnecessary deaths of many involved. By 1966, the whistle was blown on the study when it was brought to the attention of the CDC who actually wanted to continue the study until all the participants were dead. In the end of the 399 men involved, only 74 survived with many wives and children also contracting the disease leading to massive payouts for them and in 1997 a ceremony was held to apologize by the White House.
Now, the Tuskegee study wasn’t the only medical experiment that results in unnecessary deaths but it was one of the first to take place outside the acts of war where researchers knowingly deprived people of life-saving medicines. Overall, the book was interesting and would recommend it to people who are interested in conspiracy theories but doesn’t know a lot of details about them. Since if you are like me and know a lot about conspiracy theories there will be whole sections where you already know everything the author is discussing and are only sticking around for the original documents included in the book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 11, 2018
In a world where orange is the new black, this book tells you that what you see is not what it really is. It is a world full of lies, secrets, and remote control by unknown powers. But it is just that, a book of conspiracies. And heck, conspiracies are just a web of lies, for psychological control of the target audience. While some seem plausible, others are way too doubtful, like that one that former POTUS Barrack Obama is an alien (a lizard at that, he was seen catching a fly on live television). Others, the jury will forever be sequestered for a verdict.
January 12, 2023
When I read this in 2014 I thought it was amusing now that I am reviewing it in 2023 I have a less amused image of conspiracy theorists because instead of being harmless eccentrics they appear more like a cancer that is rotting society from the inside.
To be fair this book is more an encyclopaedia (I really hate demeaning that word in this context) of conspiracy theories rather then a book promoting them but this distinction is tenuous. It isn't a proper reference work and can't laugh about this stuff any more.
To be fair this book is more an encyclopaedia (I really hate demeaning that word in this context) of conspiracy theories rather then a book promoting them but this distinction is tenuous. It isn't a proper reference work and can't laugh about this stuff any more.
September 15, 2019
Total dud
If you want to believe that Steve jobs made a deal with the devil for making APPLE , this is the book for you
If you want to believe that Steve jobs made a deal with the devil for making APPLE , this is the book for you
July 6, 2020
Thumbs up!
Absolutely phenomenal book. If you are a conspiracy buff like me, this is a must read. I disagree with some of his ratings but that is what conspiracies are all about!
Absolutely phenomenal book. If you are a conspiracy buff like me, this is a must read. I disagree with some of his ratings but that is what conspiracies are all about!
February 11, 2013
I really enjoyed this book as it had a lot of conspiracy theories in that I wasn't familiar with and I liked the way that each one was presented briefly with the author drawing a conclusion as to how likely he felt the conspiracy theory was to be true.
What I did not like, although some people will, were the pages of extracts from other texts related to the conspiracy theories discussed as most of them were from older texts and quite heavy-going to read. With the exception of the Dulce interview, I skipped most of these, although they will doubtmess be of great interest to readers who want a much more in depth view of the cases discussed.
Overall a very good read and a good companion book to "The Mammoth Book of Cover-ups".
What I did not like, although some people will, were the pages of extracts from other texts related to the conspiracy theories discussed as most of them were from older texts and quite heavy-going to read. With the exception of the Dulce interview, I skipped most of these, although they will doubtmess be of great interest to readers who want a much more in depth view of the cases discussed.
Overall a very good read and a good companion book to "The Mammoth Book of Cover-ups".
July 17, 2012
Checked this out from the library, and returned it the next day. If you are TOTALLY unaware of ANY conspiracy theories, you might want to check this out and then type the subject titles into your favorite search engine - you will glean WAY more information in a search engine synopsis than this book even tries to cover in the page or two about each conspiracy theory. (Of course, if you knew anything about conspiracy theories - you would know how dangerous typing a conspiracy theory subject into a search engine was and just go back to keeping your head in the sand.)
If you are a conspiracy theorist, then you already know everything in this book. Skip it.
1.5 stars AT MOST.
If you are a conspiracy theorist, then you already know everything in this book. Skip it.
1.5 stars AT MOST.
August 16, 2013
I liked reading about the basic histories and background stories of each conspiracy, because I'd never heard most of them, but I could have gone without the personal rating system as to whether each conspiracy was possible or not. I can judge for myself! Plus, it was a little hard to take his ratings seriously when he gave the possibility of the world ending in 2012 a higher probability than the existence of the Illuminati. Maybe it's just me, but I feel like that's a little silly.
March 9, 2012
Really??? Steve Jobs made a deal with the *devil* oookkkaaayyyy
Some of this - whoa wwwwaaayyyy out there even for a person who reads paranormal as they are claiming nonfiction - some however is real so who knows??????
You have to read it to believe it - - - - or not.....
Some of this - whoa wwwwaaayyyy out there even for a person who reads paranormal as they are claiming nonfiction - some however is real so who knows??????
You have to read it to believe it - - - - or not.....
May 23, 2012
Not very well-edited and a little too colloquial for my liking but there are some interesting theories in here.
April 1, 2015
Liked it although many of these have been talked to death on the internet. There were enough unfamiliar ones to keep me reading though.
August 6, 2015
this is a good book if you just want to read a basic overview of some theories. I could've done without the rating at the end of each section.
July 4, 2013
Felt unfinished with each passing conspiracy. ...
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews