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Ghosts of Iron Mountain: The Hoax of the Century, Its Enduring Impact, and What It Reveals About America Today
“Spellbinding.” —Rick Perlstein * “A clever, fast-paced read of dazzling originality.” —William I. Hitchcock
“An excellent new book, both important and unsettling” (The New York Times), Ghosts of Iron Mountain unravels the astounding origins and far-reaching impacts of a monumental late 1960s hoax, perpetrated by cultural icons including Victor Navasky and E.L. Doctorow—a must-read for anyone curious about the surprising connections between John F. Kennedy, Oliver Stone, Timothy McVeigh, Alex Jones, and Donald Trump.
Explore the intricate web of America’s conspiracy culture with this investigative masterpiece that unearths the roots of our era’s most potent myths.
In 1966, amid unrest over the Vietnam War and the alarming growth of the military-industrial complex, little-known writer Leonard Lewin was approached by a group of ingenious satirists on the Left to concoct a document that would pretend to ratify everyone’s fears that the government was deceiving the public. Devoting more than a year to the project, Lewin constructed a fiction (passed off as the honest truth) that a government-run Study Group had been charged with examining the “cost of peace,” setting its first meetings in the very real Iron Mountain nuclear bunker in upstate New York (which lent the resulting book, Report from Iron Mountain, its name). In Lewin’s telling, this gathering of the nation’s academic elite concluded that suspending war would be disastrous, forcing all sorts of bizarre measures to compensate.
Lewin didn’t realize it at the time, but he’d created a narrative that fed the interests of both ends of the political spectrum—by promoting the idea that the government uses centralized power for evil.
What fascinates about Phil Tinline’s revelation-filled recreation of that ingenious hoax is seeing how it explodes into America’s consciousness, dominates media reports, and sends government officials scrambling. And then, how Lewin’s fabrication is adopted by a seemingly endless string of extremist organizations which view it as supporting their ideology.
In this riveting—and, at times, chilling—tale is an unsettling warning about how, in contemporary times, a deception may no longer be considered a hoax if it can be used to recruit followers to a cause.
“An excellent new book, both important and unsettling” (The New York Times), Ghosts of Iron Mountain unravels the astounding origins and far-reaching impacts of a monumental late 1960s hoax, perpetrated by cultural icons including Victor Navasky and E.L. Doctorow—a must-read for anyone curious about the surprising connections between John F. Kennedy, Oliver Stone, Timothy McVeigh, Alex Jones, and Donald Trump.
Explore the intricate web of America’s conspiracy culture with this investigative masterpiece that unearths the roots of our era’s most potent myths.
In 1966, amid unrest over the Vietnam War and the alarming growth of the military-industrial complex, little-known writer Leonard Lewin was approached by a group of ingenious satirists on the Left to concoct a document that would pretend to ratify everyone’s fears that the government was deceiving the public. Devoting more than a year to the project, Lewin constructed a fiction (passed off as the honest truth) that a government-run Study Group had been charged with examining the “cost of peace,” setting its first meetings in the very real Iron Mountain nuclear bunker in upstate New York (which lent the resulting book, Report from Iron Mountain, its name). In Lewin’s telling, this gathering of the nation’s academic elite concluded that suspending war would be disastrous, forcing all sorts of bizarre measures to compensate.
Lewin didn’t realize it at the time, but he’d created a narrative that fed the interests of both ends of the political spectrum—by promoting the idea that the government uses centralized power for evil.
What fascinates about Phil Tinline’s revelation-filled recreation of that ingenious hoax is seeing how it explodes into America’s consciousness, dominates media reports, and sends government officials scrambling. And then, how Lewin’s fabrication is adopted by a seemingly endless string of extremist organizations which view it as supporting their ideology.
In this riveting—and, at times, chilling—tale is an unsettling warning about how, in contemporary times, a deception may no longer be considered a hoax if it can be used to recruit followers to a cause.
351 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 25, 2025
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May 9, 2025
A couple of things to know going in:
First: Iron Mountain was an iron mine in New York where the government records, documents, valuable items of all kinds, etc., were stored, the idea being that these things would be shielded in the event of a nuclear attack. Unsurprisingly, it also had fallout shelters specifically constructed for executives of oil companies and their families. (Such shelters were created elsewhere around the country.)
Second: The Report from Iron Mountain was written in 1967 as an antiwar satire. It was meant to capture the tone and perspectives of reports made by the Rand Corporation and other such braintrust organizations. “The Report” presented itself as having been commissioned during the Kennedy administration to answer the question of what the impacts would be if the Viet Nam War were to end and general world peace be achieved. The conclusion made by the Report was that world peace would be disastrous for social and economic stability, that if war was to end some other mechanism would have to be created to keep the country functioning and preserve the existing power structure. Among the possible mechanisms proposed: invention of an invasion by extraterrestrials, environmental disasters, something called “blood games”(think Hunger Games), even slavery.
Third: Subtitles are getting longer and longer. But that's neither here nor there.
What started out as an antiwar, left wing satire -- a bit of an antic lark in a culture replete with them -- "The Report" ended up living a very different life than what its authors intended or even guessed at. A dark and dangerous life that is with us today.
"Ghosts" begins with the writing of the Report itself and the nature of the time in which it was conceived: hundreds of thousands of America soldiers fighting in Viet Nam, a rapidly expanding anti-war movement, a tense White House. Among the individuals involved in the project were Leonard Lewin (a writer), Victor Navasky (journalist, editor of The Nation), John Kenneth Galbraith, E.L. Doctorow and others. Doctorow — at that time editor-in chief of The Dial Press, and later a renowned novelist — published the Report as non-fiction, for reasons Tinline explores. In the crazed culture of the time, when it was released in book form it instantly became a NY Times bestseller. Understandably: The public, knocked off balance by high death counts, government lies, and assassinations, was deeply receptive to suggestions that there were secret plots from the government and people, known and unknown, in high places.
There’s a lot more to the story of the Report’s beginnings than this, of course, but what Tinline is particularly interested in is less the Report itself than its extraordinary history after its release, from the early 1970s through our own time.
It was like a game. Was the Report real or not? No matter how hard the fabricators of the Report tried to convince the public that it truly was a satire, they made little headway. Profound distrust of the government was growing. Hadn’t President Eisenhower himself warned about a “military-industrial complex” that might exert too much power over the country? Had Lee Harvey Oswald really acted alone? Hadn’t the Johnson Administration lied again and again about how the war was going in Viet Nam? Then there were the whispers, many of them true, of domestic spying by the CIA and FBI. The Report had to be real, people said: why, the publisher itself described it as “non-fiction.”
Some groups would eventually, reluctantly acknowledge that the book was written as satire but they’d immediately turn around and say it didn't matter because what the Report talked about was really happening: the government (or a combination of the government and the “military-industrial complex”) was planning all kinds of things to take full control of the American people. People were talking about “black helicopters” and imminent mass arrests and concentration camps. Tyranny was just around the corner, they said. (Tinline refers to this kind of fact-averse thinking this way: “feels-as-if"; that is, If it feels real, it is real.” Needless to say, the phenomenon is demonstrated to us everyday.)
The war ended, of course, but The Report lived on. In a strikingly short time, Tinline writes, it became a critical sourcebook for all manner of conspiracy thinking from both the Left and Right (but mostly the Right). It was touted by John Welch Society acolytes, as did anti-government militias, fringe groups, Sovereign Citizen advocates, and fans of Oliver Stone’s paranoid movie that said the assassination of JFK was an inside job. It seemed to find validation in the awful events at Waco and Ruby Ridge. In the aftermath of those tragedies, Timothy McVeigh set off a bomb at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 167 people. Shortly after that attack, a journalist spoke with members of the Oklahoma Militia. They denied any involvement in the bombing but didn’t waver in their belief in the threat that McVeigh was fighting against:
The federal government, they explained, had “come under the control and domination of a group of wealthy coconspirators,” and was poised to “declare war upon its own citizens,” seize their guns, and crush their liberty. This was just part of a plot to hand the subjugated United States over to the forces of the United Nations.”
When the journalist asked how the militiamen knew about the threat, they replied, “Have you read Iron Mountain?"
Since its release many decades ago, the Report has had an enormous influence on various groups. For these people, everything in the news — every new conflict, every new peace initiative, every mention of a “new world order,” every technological breakthrough — was further evidence of the plots against America the Report warned about. Books, pamphlets, and videos asserted that the Report was “real” and was “being implemented.” Advertisements challenged: if the Report really was a hoax, “Why is the establishment media so upset over IRON MOUNTAIN? What information does it contain that they must DEBUNK THE ENTIRE REPORT? Do they have something there are trying to HIDE FROM THE AMERICAN PEOPLE?”
“Ghosts” examines the “conundrum of why a left-wing satire… ended up as a bible for the far right.” Somehow -- influenced by events, cultural shifts, and the actions of disaffected and unsettled individuals -- the Report became tightly woven into the DNA of militia groups and anti-government movements. People who hadn't yet been born when the Report was written and for whom the Viet Nam War was ancient history found fodder for their anxieties in its pages. Or at least what people said about it. A well-intentioned, non-binding UN plan for sustainable development called Agenda 21 suddenly became evidence of the sinister plot the Report warned of. Notables like Glenn Beck, Ted Cruz, the Republican national platform, condemned it, said Agenda 21 was irrefutable proof the Report was legit. More recently, Alex Jones would pick up the argument. And then there was QAnon. Later still, the threat would be embraced at the highest levels: it would be called the Deep State -- the shadowy individuals Donald Trump (who most certainly has never heard of the Report or Agenda 21 but has breathed deeply the poisoned air surrounding them) called "villains and tyrants who are looking to destroy our country."
Part of the history of the Report has taken a particularly disturbing, if entirely unsurprising. Many of the organizations -- perhaps even the majority -- that have held up the Report as proof the government and business elite are plotting against ordinary citizens also hold up The Protocols of the Elders of Zion — itself a hoax, to be sure, but of a very different and pernicious kind -- as further proof. As Tinline writes, "Both Protocols and Report seems to confirm the same deep story about invisible elite conspiracy. The 1990s far right promoted both books -- even sold [the Report] as new 'Secret Protocols.' Today, some racist conspiracists use the fact of Navasky and Lewin's Jewishness as 'evidence' that their hoax really does reveal an evil plot."
I wasn't aware of the Report before reading this book. Or perhaps I simply forgot about it over the years. (Perhaps I was brainwashed to forget? Hmmm.) Having read Tinline's book, I am now very aware of how persistent its influence has been. And how terribly complicated are the processes by which societies understand what is real and what isn't, what is true and what lies.
First: Iron Mountain was an iron mine in New York where the government records, documents, valuable items of all kinds, etc., were stored, the idea being that these things would be shielded in the event of a nuclear attack. Unsurprisingly, it also had fallout shelters specifically constructed for executives of oil companies and their families. (Such shelters were created elsewhere around the country.)
Second: The Report from Iron Mountain was written in 1967 as an antiwar satire. It was meant to capture the tone and perspectives of reports made by the Rand Corporation and other such braintrust organizations. “The Report” presented itself as having been commissioned during the Kennedy administration to answer the question of what the impacts would be if the Viet Nam War were to end and general world peace be achieved. The conclusion made by the Report was that world peace would be disastrous for social and economic stability, that if war was to end some other mechanism would have to be created to keep the country functioning and preserve the existing power structure. Among the possible mechanisms proposed: invention of an invasion by extraterrestrials, environmental disasters, something called “blood games”(think Hunger Games), even slavery.
Third: Subtitles are getting longer and longer. But that's neither here nor there.
What started out as an antiwar, left wing satire -- a bit of an antic lark in a culture replete with them -- "The Report" ended up living a very different life than what its authors intended or even guessed at. A dark and dangerous life that is with us today.
"Ghosts" begins with the writing of the Report itself and the nature of the time in which it was conceived: hundreds of thousands of America soldiers fighting in Viet Nam, a rapidly expanding anti-war movement, a tense White House. Among the individuals involved in the project were Leonard Lewin (a writer), Victor Navasky (journalist, editor of The Nation), John Kenneth Galbraith, E.L. Doctorow and others. Doctorow — at that time editor-in chief of The Dial Press, and later a renowned novelist — published the Report as non-fiction, for reasons Tinline explores. In the crazed culture of the time, when it was released in book form it instantly became a NY Times bestseller. Understandably: The public, knocked off balance by high death counts, government lies, and assassinations, was deeply receptive to suggestions that there were secret plots from the government and people, known and unknown, in high places.
There’s a lot more to the story of the Report’s beginnings than this, of course, but what Tinline is particularly interested in is less the Report itself than its extraordinary history after its release, from the early 1970s through our own time.
It was like a game. Was the Report real or not? No matter how hard the fabricators of the Report tried to convince the public that it truly was a satire, they made little headway. Profound distrust of the government was growing. Hadn’t President Eisenhower himself warned about a “military-industrial complex” that might exert too much power over the country? Had Lee Harvey Oswald really acted alone? Hadn’t the Johnson Administration lied again and again about how the war was going in Viet Nam? Then there were the whispers, many of them true, of domestic spying by the CIA and FBI. The Report had to be real, people said: why, the publisher itself described it as “non-fiction.”
Some groups would eventually, reluctantly acknowledge that the book was written as satire but they’d immediately turn around and say it didn't matter because what the Report talked about was really happening: the government (or a combination of the government and the “military-industrial complex”) was planning all kinds of things to take full control of the American people. People were talking about “black helicopters” and imminent mass arrests and concentration camps. Tyranny was just around the corner, they said. (Tinline refers to this kind of fact-averse thinking this way: “feels-as-if"; that is, If it feels real, it is real.” Needless to say, the phenomenon is demonstrated to us everyday.)
The war ended, of course, but The Report lived on. In a strikingly short time, Tinline writes, it became a critical sourcebook for all manner of conspiracy thinking from both the Left and Right (but mostly the Right). It was touted by John Welch Society acolytes, as did anti-government militias, fringe groups, Sovereign Citizen advocates, and fans of Oliver Stone’s paranoid movie that said the assassination of JFK was an inside job. It seemed to find validation in the awful events at Waco and Ruby Ridge. In the aftermath of those tragedies, Timothy McVeigh set off a bomb at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 167 people. Shortly after that attack, a journalist spoke with members of the Oklahoma Militia. They denied any involvement in the bombing but didn’t waver in their belief in the threat that McVeigh was fighting against:
The federal government, they explained, had “come under the control and domination of a group of wealthy coconspirators,” and was poised to “declare war upon its own citizens,” seize their guns, and crush their liberty. This was just part of a plot to hand the subjugated United States over to the forces of the United Nations.”
When the journalist asked how the militiamen knew about the threat, they replied, “Have you read Iron Mountain?"
Since its release many decades ago, the Report has had an enormous influence on various groups. For these people, everything in the news — every new conflict, every new peace initiative, every mention of a “new world order,” every technological breakthrough — was further evidence of the plots against America the Report warned about. Books, pamphlets, and videos asserted that the Report was “real” and was “being implemented.” Advertisements challenged: if the Report really was a hoax, “Why is the establishment media so upset over IRON MOUNTAIN? What information does it contain that they must DEBUNK THE ENTIRE REPORT? Do they have something there are trying to HIDE FROM THE AMERICAN PEOPLE?”
“Ghosts” examines the “conundrum of why a left-wing satire… ended up as a bible for the far right.” Somehow -- influenced by events, cultural shifts, and the actions of disaffected and unsettled individuals -- the Report became tightly woven into the DNA of militia groups and anti-government movements. People who hadn't yet been born when the Report was written and for whom the Viet Nam War was ancient history found fodder for their anxieties in its pages. Or at least what people said about it. A well-intentioned, non-binding UN plan for sustainable development called Agenda 21 suddenly became evidence of the sinister plot the Report warned of. Notables like Glenn Beck, Ted Cruz, the Republican national platform, condemned it, said Agenda 21 was irrefutable proof the Report was legit. More recently, Alex Jones would pick up the argument. And then there was QAnon. Later still, the threat would be embraced at the highest levels: it would be called the Deep State -- the shadowy individuals Donald Trump (who most certainly has never heard of the Report or Agenda 21 but has breathed deeply the poisoned air surrounding them) called "villains and tyrants who are looking to destroy our country."
Part of the history of the Report has taken a particularly disturbing, if entirely unsurprising. Many of the organizations -- perhaps even the majority -- that have held up the Report as proof the government and business elite are plotting against ordinary citizens also hold up The Protocols of the Elders of Zion — itself a hoax, to be sure, but of a very different and pernicious kind -- as further proof. As Tinline writes, "Both Protocols and Report seems to confirm the same deep story about invisible elite conspiracy. The 1990s far right promoted both books -- even sold [the Report] as new 'Secret Protocols.' Today, some racist conspiracists use the fact of Navasky and Lewin's Jewishness as 'evidence' that their hoax really does reveal an evil plot."
I wasn't aware of the Report before reading this book. Or perhaps I simply forgot about it over the years. (Perhaps I was brainwashed to forget? Hmmm.) Having read Tinline's book, I am now very aware of how persistent its influence has been. And how terribly complicated are the processes by which societies understand what is real and what isn't, what is true and what lies.
December 22, 2024
I received a free copy of, Ghosts of Iron Mountain, by Phil Tinline, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. In the 1960's when the US was in enough turmoil with the Vietnam war, a man decides to lie about the government. There are people out there who will believe anything, and there are people out there who will do anything, for attention. I did not like the premise of this book, but it was well written.
March 11, 2025
Ghost Of Iron Mountain: The hoax of the century, It’s enduring impact and what it says about America today by Phil 10 line, this is a book about a group of friends who got together and put out a comedic narrative about a secret society that thought the only way to be economically healthy was to have war because peace produce no profits. being someone who reads the small print I found nothing shocking about people believing this was a real credible book and that there really was a shady organization in Stone Mountain making decisions about what was best for America but mostly themselves
. There were many quotable statements in this book but the thing that struck me the most with that for those who believe this book isn’t having an impact on life today the president of the United States in his first term talked about getting rid of the deep state and clearing the swamp… If that means nothing to you you really should do your homework. This was a great book an awesome investigation we found out who really built the bunker how the book came about and the background of those who wrote it, not to mention the real world impact its head on America but don’t take my word for it read the book.#NetGalley, #HeadOfZeusPublishing, #TheBlindReviewer, #MyHonestReview, #PhilTinline, #GhostOfIronMountain,
. There were many quotable statements in this book but the thing that struck me the most with that for those who believe this book isn’t having an impact on life today the president of the United States in his first term talked about getting rid of the deep state and clearing the swamp… If that means nothing to you you really should do your homework. This was a great book an awesome investigation we found out who really built the bunker how the book came about and the background of those who wrote it, not to mention the real world impact its head on America but don’t take my word for it read the book.#NetGalley, #HeadOfZeusPublishing, #TheBlindReviewer, #MyHonestReview, #PhilTinline, #GhostOfIronMountain,
January 18, 2025
Thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for a free eARC of this!
In 1966 a group of satirists came to with the idea to write a report about a study-group they met in the nuclear bunker in Iron Mountain. This study-group went over what would be the “cost of peace”. Leonard Lewis authors the fake report and publishes it. It’s a hoax. The problem is, a lot of people think it’s legit, and it spawns LOTS of conspiracies, and major events that have impact on our country.
This was a good read. I find the Cold War to be such a fascinating era of our country. This was very well written, and well researched.
In 1966 a group of satirists came to with the idea to write a report about a study-group they met in the nuclear bunker in Iron Mountain. This study-group went over what would be the “cost of peace”. Leonard Lewis authors the fake report and publishes it. It’s a hoax. The problem is, a lot of people think it’s legit, and it spawns LOTS of conspiracies, and major events that have impact on our country.
This was a good read. I find the Cold War to be such a fascinating era of our country. This was very well written, and well researched.
April 8, 2025
One of my favorite nonfiction books this year. Excellent research and compulsively readable.
April 10, 2025
Probably my mistake on picking up this book was thinking that the words "satire" and "prank" in the cover blurb meant that would be something remotely amusing in this story. But the prank takes place in the oh-so-serious 60's and it's about a political parody that is so well written that captures the voice of Kennedy era left wing think tanks so that the government even has to go back and check their records to make sure it's not from one their think tanks. But the hoax is revealed and it spurs some important discussion on the role of war in our economy, so all good, we can live happily ever after, right?
20 years after it was written, it gets picked up by Nazi racists and holocaust deniers and gathers a whole new interpretation. It's right there with the Turner Diaries at Waco, Texas and Ruby Ridge and the Oklahoma bombing. Trump was waving this shit around in the 90's and even back then they were plotting on how to replace democracy with an authoritarian government. It's tucked in the pocket of the conspiracy theorists.
This is like one of those horror movies where the kids are all out for a laugh and you think, ha ha, this is sweet and then... it gets truly terrifying.
20 years after it was written, it gets picked up by Nazi racists and holocaust deniers and gathers a whole new interpretation. It's right there with the Turner Diaries at Waco, Texas and Ruby Ridge and the Oklahoma bombing. Trump was waving this shit around in the 90's and even back then they were plotting on how to replace democracy with an authoritarian government. It's tucked in the pocket of the conspiracy theorists.
This is like one of those horror movies where the kids are all out for a laugh and you think, ha ha, this is sweet and then... it gets truly terrifying.
May 13, 2025
This book completely blew my mind.
I will admit I really struggled with this book at the beginning [I was so confused PLUS it was a bit dryer than I was anticipating], and thought about DNF'ing, but then, something clicked, I got what was going on, and then just blew through the rest of it. And then sat, gobsmacked at it all.
The fact that a book of satire, written in 1967, could be taken as gospel truth [even as everyone involved denied it was truth, that it was indeed satire and that the author made every single thing up] is mind-blowing enough, but to see how this ONE book, all these years later, STILL affects so many people [including many who have been in the news over the years; this part will just have you going "WHAT IN THE WORLD" over and over] and is linked to many things currently happening [yes I am being vague. Yes that means you need to read the book. Or, just find a spoiler-y review to dive into] is just so gobsmackingly insane and I am still in wonder over it all.
I am so glad that I was able to stick with and finish this book; what a crazy ride of a read.
Thank you to NetGalley, Phil Tinline, and Scribner for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I will admit I really struggled with this book at the beginning [I was so confused PLUS it was a bit dryer than I was anticipating], and thought about DNF'ing, but then, something clicked, I got what was going on, and then just blew through the rest of it. And then sat, gobsmacked at it all.
The fact that a book of satire, written in 1967, could be taken as gospel truth [even as everyone involved denied it was truth, that it was indeed satire and that the author made every single thing up] is mind-blowing enough, but to see how this ONE book, all these years later, STILL affects so many people [including many who have been in the news over the years; this part will just have you going "WHAT IN THE WORLD" over and over] and is linked to many things currently happening [yes I am being vague. Yes that means you need to read the book. Or, just find a spoiler-y review to dive into] is just so gobsmackingly insane and I am still in wonder over it all.
I am so glad that I was able to stick with and finish this book; what a crazy ride of a read.
Thank you to NetGalley, Phil Tinline, and Scribner for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
November 29, 2025
This is one of the best books about conspiracy theories and why they refuse to die that I have ever read. That a left-wing satire composed in the mid-1960s should go on to be treated as gospel by extreme right-wing groups like the Liberty Lobby, the John Birch Society, and the militia movement decades after its author declared that it was a hoax dreamed up in the offices of a satirical magazine is astonishing.
Phil Tinline dissects how this happened so carefully and logically that you can see how one thing led to another. He points out that suspicion of government is a hallmark of both the far left and the extremist right, so we shouldn’t be too surprised that a critique of power elites dressed up as satire would find true believers at both ends of the political spectrum. Belief in the veracity of Report from Iron Mountain gained many more adherents on the far right than on the far left, however. Following Tinline as he tracks how this came about makes fascinating — and chilling — reading.
Ghosts of Iron Mountain is meticulously researched, well-constructed, and compelling. It’s a strong argument in favor of the need for well-developed critical thinking skills. Without such skills, people run the risk of believing either everything or nothing they’re told by those in authority. Neither outcome is healthy for democracy.
Phil Tinline dissects how this happened so carefully and logically that you can see how one thing led to another. He points out that suspicion of government is a hallmark of both the far left and the extremist right, so we shouldn’t be too surprised that a critique of power elites dressed up as satire would find true believers at both ends of the political spectrum. Belief in the veracity of Report from Iron Mountain gained many more adherents on the far right than on the far left, however. Following Tinline as he tracks how this came about makes fascinating — and chilling — reading.
Ghosts of Iron Mountain is meticulously researched, well-constructed, and compelling. It’s a strong argument in favor of the need for well-developed critical thinking skills. Without such skills, people run the risk of believing either everything or nothing they’re told by those in authority. Neither outcome is healthy for democracy.
March 29, 2025
"The seedbed of conspiracism, however, is humiliation and despair..."
Chronicling the origins and afterlives of the Report from Iron Mountain, a satirical forgery depicting a government report warning that global peace is a threat to be avoided at all costs, Tinline's book charts the dominoes that led to our current post-truth age. He adeptly examines the context of anti-war and anti-government satire that created the Report, and the blurry lines between satire and conspiracy theories which still fuel our information ecosystem, with Tinline's study of a left-wing publication being transmuted and misinterpreted to serve far-right agendas being an all-too-familiar one. Told with kinetic prose that navigates effectively between this narrative's many shades of truth, fiction, and delusion, it's an uncomfortably relevant read.
Chronicling the origins and afterlives of the Report from Iron Mountain, a satirical forgery depicting a government report warning that global peace is a threat to be avoided at all costs, Tinline's book charts the dominoes that led to our current post-truth age. He adeptly examines the context of anti-war and anti-government satire that created the Report, and the blurry lines between satire and conspiracy theories which still fuel our information ecosystem, with Tinline's study of a left-wing publication being transmuted and misinterpreted to serve far-right agendas being an all-too-familiar one. Told with kinetic prose that navigates effectively between this narrative's many shades of truth, fiction, and delusion, it's an uncomfortably relevant read.
May 2, 2025
‘satire requires clarity of purpose and target lest it be mistaken and contribute to those which it intends to criticize’
I’ve been trying to get into reading more nonfiction and really enjoyed this. a bizarre and fascinating cautionary tale about a leftist satire that went on to be embraced by the far right, who believed it was completely true. interesting on its own as a book about a relatively forgotten part of history, and even more interesting as an analysis of modern day conspiracy theories and how they spread
I’ve been trying to get into reading more nonfiction and really enjoyed this. a bizarre and fascinating cautionary tale about a leftist satire that went on to be embraced by the far right, who believed it was completely true. interesting on its own as a book about a relatively forgotten part of history, and even more interesting as an analysis of modern day conspiracy theories and how they spread
July 27, 2025
What should have been a farce turns into "as if" reality and explains our current world better than anything I have ever read.
It gives logic to how far the left and right (one of them much more violently) became fixated with conspiracy theories which were certainly surrounded with "truths". Unintended consequences (like writing a satirical book on the current political and military climate) can lead to horrifically unintended consequences in hands of either nefarious persons or those who's lives need and understanding to the "feels as if" world.
Brilliant.
It gives logic to how far the left and right (one of them much more violently) became fixated with conspiracy theories which were certainly surrounded with "truths". Unintended consequences (like writing a satirical book on the current political and military climate) can lead to horrifically unintended consequences in hands of either nefarious persons or those who's lives need and understanding to the "feels as if" world.
Brilliant.
April 13, 2025
A perfect encapsulation of a very American and very specific type of paranoid mindset.
May 23, 2025
3.9 stars
May 1, 2025
If one can get through this barrage without a migraine, you the reader. An astonishing work indeed but it calls to mind the whole dang USA should be on a the most powerful and numbing antidepressant.
America is run by the most egotistical and neurotic politicians.
America is run by the most egotistical and neurotic politicians.
June 13, 2025
It's an interesting story, very applicable to our conspiracy-obsessed times, but it really didn't need to be a full book. A long form article would have been much better.
June 29, 2025
" As President Trump's former chief strategist Steve Bannon once advised,
the task is to ' flood the zone with shit ' : to discharge so much dubious data
into the atmosphere that no one knows what to believe."
Iron Mountain is a real place that has become a flash point for nearly 8 decades that has seen a satire turned into reality and proof that a "deep state" exists. In fact the satire ( a book titled "Report from iron Mountain" published first in the 1966 by Leonard Lewin ) has been twisted and manipulated into being whatever proof is needed for whatever agenda is being promoted. It's often correctly described as satirical fiction, yet still used as fact and gospel truth. Lewin's main point was that wars were planned and wanted to keep the economy and country under control, and the government had the power to manipulate all that.
Phil Tinline has written an amazing history of the proliferation and metastasizing of conspiracy theories since the end of WW II. Crazy theories, wild accusations and imaginative recreations of events by victims and nonbelievers have always been abundant. " Think Tanks " and planning groups tasked with possibilities and projected outcomes often stretch logic and can introduce crazy thinking. People tend to believe what they want to believe and perception and attitude color history and the reporting of any event. Jokes and hoaxes also abound, and a good con job for monetary gain is as old as the first bridge that was ever sold.
Tinlines's book is meticulously researched and documented, and rather than study the craziness of the actual conspiracy theories, he writes about how and why they abound. The formula is actually quite obvious and transparent, so it's no wonder they flourish and appeal to so many who seek and demand answers and reasons for things. Rather than blaming things on luck, coincidence or to quote Bob Dylan "a simple twist of fate", many insist that every event is a planned occurrence, a bit of manipulation by the powerful, tricks and control from the "Wizard of Oz" or powerful and hidden elite.
Some of the historical ingredients that have fallen into the boiling pot of these theories are still open to perception. Eisenhower's warning about the danger of the 'military industrial complex', J F K 's manipulative skills at handling an emerging media with targeted political lies and deceptions, especially concerning Fidel Castro and the 'Bay of Pigs' fiasco. Lyndon Johnson told frequent lies and denials about the deepening abyss of Viet Nam, only to be amped even more prominently by Richard Nixon's mockery of truth that led our country into a deep distrust of their own government.
Other events like the assassinations of key figures starting with of course JFK, but also including RFK and MLK added to the craziness. The growth of militias, and more tragic events like the Oklahoma bombing, Waco, Ruby Ridge opened the flood gates of opinions and beliefs centered around trying to explain, justify and blame. School shootings, mass murders and the proliferation
of protests on the streets were everywhere. The emerging internet and social media platforms exploded into a universe of opinions and ideas, some valid, some ridiculous, many more self serving means to gain notoriety or profit.
So where ever you have a distrust in government or leadership, a sense that someone or some group is all powerful, or there is a blurring of the line between fact and fiction you have the atmosphere to grow these wild theories. Superficial logic, a weakness in critical thinking skills, a need to justify or 'be right' about causes or events, intentional misinformation for confusion or 'proof' all act as nourishment. Whenever " feels - as - if " replaces what is, you have more fodder. When truth matters less than a good narrative and people believe that all that matters is the story, right or wrong, we have a problem. Some people argue relentlessly that their right to " be wrong" is equal to your right "to be correct". Whenever we have simplistic answers to complex issues, opinions verses research and documentation, or duplicitous statements without any fact checking we have problems.
So there you have a simplistic description of Phil Tinline's meticulous and scholarly book. It's a challenge to read, and I believe easier content for older readers who lived through many of the events and historical moments. There are a lot of names, people you've probably never heard of who have at one time or another had an impact of events of their day. You might need to stop and research points of history to avoid confusion.
Tinline doesn't point fingers or debunk these theories, no matter how ridiculous. He also doesn't lay blame, although he does suggest a few things he has observed, for example that in the days of the McCarthy hearings, JFK, RFK and MLK assassinations and Vietnam conspiracy theories were rabid in BOTH the right and the left. In fact JFK was shot by leftist Lee Harvey Oswald. However more recently in the last several decades these theories seem to proliferate and thrive much more in the alt-right, and culminate with the advent of our current administration and his minions of master manipulators.
So it's almost a case of "I dare you to read this!" It will answer some questions, perhaps raise a few, and take an effort to try to get through it and understand it. I think it's best to be read fairly slowly, leaving time for thought and ingesting of the ideas, as well as research into historical names and events. My descriptions are the best i could do, and I apologize to Phil Tinline if I oversimplified or miscast his ideas. I only wrote my interpretation of his ideas and research.
the task is to ' flood the zone with shit ' : to discharge so much dubious data
into the atmosphere that no one knows what to believe."
Iron Mountain is a real place that has become a flash point for nearly 8 decades that has seen a satire turned into reality and proof that a "deep state" exists. In fact the satire ( a book titled "Report from iron Mountain" published first in the 1966 by Leonard Lewin ) has been twisted and manipulated into being whatever proof is needed for whatever agenda is being promoted. It's often correctly described as satirical fiction, yet still used as fact and gospel truth. Lewin's main point was that wars were planned and wanted to keep the economy and country under control, and the government had the power to manipulate all that.
Phil Tinline has written an amazing history of the proliferation and metastasizing of conspiracy theories since the end of WW II. Crazy theories, wild accusations and imaginative recreations of events by victims and nonbelievers have always been abundant. " Think Tanks " and planning groups tasked with possibilities and projected outcomes often stretch logic and can introduce crazy thinking. People tend to believe what they want to believe and perception and attitude color history and the reporting of any event. Jokes and hoaxes also abound, and a good con job for monetary gain is as old as the first bridge that was ever sold.
Tinlines's book is meticulously researched and documented, and rather than study the craziness of the actual conspiracy theories, he writes about how and why they abound. The formula is actually quite obvious and transparent, so it's no wonder they flourish and appeal to so many who seek and demand answers and reasons for things. Rather than blaming things on luck, coincidence or to quote Bob Dylan "a simple twist of fate", many insist that every event is a planned occurrence, a bit of manipulation by the powerful, tricks and control from the "Wizard of Oz" or powerful and hidden elite.
Some of the historical ingredients that have fallen into the boiling pot of these theories are still open to perception. Eisenhower's warning about the danger of the 'military industrial complex', J F K 's manipulative skills at handling an emerging media with targeted political lies and deceptions, especially concerning Fidel Castro and the 'Bay of Pigs' fiasco. Lyndon Johnson told frequent lies and denials about the deepening abyss of Viet Nam, only to be amped even more prominently by Richard Nixon's mockery of truth that led our country into a deep distrust of their own government.
Other events like the assassinations of key figures starting with of course JFK, but also including RFK and MLK added to the craziness. The growth of militias, and more tragic events like the Oklahoma bombing, Waco, Ruby Ridge opened the flood gates of opinions and beliefs centered around trying to explain, justify and blame. School shootings, mass murders and the proliferation
of protests on the streets were everywhere. The emerging internet and social media platforms exploded into a universe of opinions and ideas, some valid, some ridiculous, many more self serving means to gain notoriety or profit.
So where ever you have a distrust in government or leadership, a sense that someone or some group is all powerful, or there is a blurring of the line between fact and fiction you have the atmosphere to grow these wild theories. Superficial logic, a weakness in critical thinking skills, a need to justify or 'be right' about causes or events, intentional misinformation for confusion or 'proof' all act as nourishment. Whenever " feels - as - if " replaces what is, you have more fodder. When truth matters less than a good narrative and people believe that all that matters is the story, right or wrong, we have a problem. Some people argue relentlessly that their right to " be wrong" is equal to your right "to be correct". Whenever we have simplistic answers to complex issues, opinions verses research and documentation, or duplicitous statements without any fact checking we have problems.
So there you have a simplistic description of Phil Tinline's meticulous and scholarly book. It's a challenge to read, and I believe easier content for older readers who lived through many of the events and historical moments. There are a lot of names, people you've probably never heard of who have at one time or another had an impact of events of their day. You might need to stop and research points of history to avoid confusion.
Tinline doesn't point fingers or debunk these theories, no matter how ridiculous. He also doesn't lay blame, although he does suggest a few things he has observed, for example that in the days of the McCarthy hearings, JFK, RFK and MLK assassinations and Vietnam conspiracy theories were rabid in BOTH the right and the left. In fact JFK was shot by leftist Lee Harvey Oswald. However more recently in the last several decades these theories seem to proliferate and thrive much more in the alt-right, and culminate with the advent of our current administration and his minions of master manipulators.
So it's almost a case of "I dare you to read this!" It will answer some questions, perhaps raise a few, and take an effort to try to get through it and understand it. I think it's best to be read fairly slowly, leaving time for thought and ingesting of the ideas, as well as research into historical names and events. My descriptions are the best i could do, and I apologize to Phil Tinline if I oversimplified or miscast his ideas. I only wrote my interpretation of his ideas and research.
February 2, 2025
My thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for an advance copy of this book that looks at the history of a joke, a parody of American political thinking, one that seemed so real, so authentic that it has become the basis of paranoid thought and conspiracies ever since.
America is a country that loves its fiction. Land of the free home of the brave. Where a man can pull himself up by his bootstraps and make something of himself, as long as they are white, women and minorities need not apply. The history that we are taught is based on myth, cherry trees, war of northern aggression, and what ever the Department of Education working with Texas Schoolbook developers will be making now. We not only print the legend, we belief the legend. Even though we can trace this legends down, and call shenanigans on them. One of the biggest myths started with that most American of reasons, to make money. This myth was so banal, so governmental, even with some obvious parody, that the myth became the history for a lot of people. Leading to militia groups, children being bombed and criminals getting into office. This book looks at how we got to here. Ghosts of Iron Mountain: The Hoax of the Century, Its Enduring Impact, and What It Reveals About America Today by journalist and author Phil Tinline, is a look at the origin of a book, used to keep a magazine afloat, that has become something much bigger and darker, a ghost that still haunts us today.
The mid-60's was a far darker period in American history than most people today realize. The myth of American exceptionalism was being torn away. A president had been killed, a war was on that no one seemed to think was being handled well. Some wanted it ended, some wanted to use nukes. Protesters were being beaten in the streets, police were militarized like troops in third world countries. The word credibility gap was used to describe what was being told by the government to the American people. In the midst of this a group of satirists working on a magazine called the Monocle, found themselves needing money. They had packaged book ideas, humor and other parodies, before, and a book might get them the cash, or in the parlance of the times bread, to keep things going. Leonard Lewin was a writer near the end of his dream, thinking of leaving the city and going back home. Approached Lewin was at first wary, than found it hard to create something. Soon an idea was hashed out, and a document, supposedly a leak from the government about an unknown committee was created. This committee discussed the idea that war was good for the economy, and peace was not. Without a state of permanent war, the American way of life would be threatened. Released by Dial Press this book, Report from Iron Mountain, soon took on a life of its own, no matter how many people, including well known people, decried it for the parody it was. A parody that fit the doomset of many American minds, and became the basis for their war against what the American dream was becoming.
I first read the book Report from Iron Mountain, years ago, found in a book store in the history section. I was confused as it said clearly on the front it was a parody, but at the time I was reading a lot of different conspiracy books for a college paper, and thought well that is what they want you to think. The book seems like a real report, with an interview from the whistleblower that seems real, and a report that reads like government work. Except for a lot ow odd comments. I love the fact that the Johnson administration had no idea if this was real report, as Tinline writes. This is a really interesting book, loaded with information about the era, the book was written, and how paranoid and doomsday thought was always been with us. Tinline covers the creation, the reception of the book, the people who developed and help write it and the strange afterlife the book has had, quoted as gospel by militia groups and fringe thinkers for almost 50 years. Tinline has done an incredible amount of research, and write quite well, balancing both the jokers, the politicians, and the extremists quite well.
If one wants to understand America one can start here, and get a very good grasp of how the American mind can be so easily confused, and even more fused with anything that adds to their worldview that someone, somewhere is plotting to keep them down, or under control. Even if it was a bunch of ivy league kids looking for a quick cash infusion. A book that makes one think, and wonder about the fate of our country.
America is a country that loves its fiction. Land of the free home of the brave. Where a man can pull himself up by his bootstraps and make something of himself, as long as they are white, women and minorities need not apply. The history that we are taught is based on myth, cherry trees, war of northern aggression, and what ever the Department of Education working with Texas Schoolbook developers will be making now. We not only print the legend, we belief the legend. Even though we can trace this legends down, and call shenanigans on them. One of the biggest myths started with that most American of reasons, to make money. This myth was so banal, so governmental, even with some obvious parody, that the myth became the history for a lot of people. Leading to militia groups, children being bombed and criminals getting into office. This book looks at how we got to here. Ghosts of Iron Mountain: The Hoax of the Century, Its Enduring Impact, and What It Reveals About America Today by journalist and author Phil Tinline, is a look at the origin of a book, used to keep a magazine afloat, that has become something much bigger and darker, a ghost that still haunts us today.
The mid-60's was a far darker period in American history than most people today realize. The myth of American exceptionalism was being torn away. A president had been killed, a war was on that no one seemed to think was being handled well. Some wanted it ended, some wanted to use nukes. Protesters were being beaten in the streets, police were militarized like troops in third world countries. The word credibility gap was used to describe what was being told by the government to the American people. In the midst of this a group of satirists working on a magazine called the Monocle, found themselves needing money. They had packaged book ideas, humor and other parodies, before, and a book might get them the cash, or in the parlance of the times bread, to keep things going. Leonard Lewin was a writer near the end of his dream, thinking of leaving the city and going back home. Approached Lewin was at first wary, than found it hard to create something. Soon an idea was hashed out, and a document, supposedly a leak from the government about an unknown committee was created. This committee discussed the idea that war was good for the economy, and peace was not. Without a state of permanent war, the American way of life would be threatened. Released by Dial Press this book, Report from Iron Mountain, soon took on a life of its own, no matter how many people, including well known people, decried it for the parody it was. A parody that fit the doomset of many American minds, and became the basis for their war against what the American dream was becoming.
I first read the book Report from Iron Mountain, years ago, found in a book store in the history section. I was confused as it said clearly on the front it was a parody, but at the time I was reading a lot of different conspiracy books for a college paper, and thought well that is what they want you to think. The book seems like a real report, with an interview from the whistleblower that seems real, and a report that reads like government work. Except for a lot ow odd comments. I love the fact that the Johnson administration had no idea if this was real report, as Tinline writes. This is a really interesting book, loaded with information about the era, the book was written, and how paranoid and doomsday thought was always been with us. Tinline covers the creation, the reception of the book, the people who developed and help write it and the strange afterlife the book has had, quoted as gospel by militia groups and fringe thinkers for almost 50 years. Tinline has done an incredible amount of research, and write quite well, balancing both the jokers, the politicians, and the extremists quite well.
If one wants to understand America one can start here, and get a very good grasp of how the American mind can be so easily confused, and even more fused with anything that adds to their worldview that someone, somewhere is plotting to keep them down, or under control. Even if it was a bunch of ivy league kids looking for a quick cash infusion. A book that makes one think, and wonder about the fate of our country.
April 28, 2025
In 1966 three young guys got the idea for a prank. Victor Navasky went onto to become editor of Nation Magazine. E. L. Doctorow went on to become a National Book Award winning novelist. Ping Ferry went on to have a long career as a philanthropist. The idea was to publish a phony government study that would highlight the insanity of the think tank intellectuals who were the intellectual support for the military industrial complex.
Navasky had seen an article discussing the economic risks of peace. He wanted to take the idea to its logical conclusion. They hired a writer, Leonard Lewin. He wrote up a phony report attributed to a phony governmental study group. They convinced The Dial Pres, a reputable publisher, to publish it as a nonfiction book.
"Report from Iron Mountain on the Possibility and Desirability of Peace" was supposedly written by a high-level group of public and private luminaries in the think tank world. They meet in offices in Iron Mountain, New York. They outlined the negative effects of cutting military spending. They discussed the desirability of working up threats and fears in a way that would support continued spending to help the economy. Lewin capture the think tank tone perfectly.
The jokesters had a good run when the report was released. There were many people who took it seriously. There was an immediate controversy about whether it was legitimate or not
The Government denied it was real, but "of course they would". Eventually Lewin et. al. admitted it was all a big joke, which should have been the end of it.
The amazing part of this story is the second life of the book as a right-wing bible. Tinline shows that by the 1990s the book was being reprinted by the Liberty Lobby, an extreme right-wing group, as proof of the secret government run by the left-wing establishment. And when Lewin and Navasky et. al. claimed that it was a prank, the right wingers said, "of course they would".
Tinline takes a scary deep dive into the wacky right wing. "Iron Mountain" keeps popping up as an admission by the "deep state" of how they really manipulate the citizenry.
Tinline works hard to place the report into perspective. C. Wright Mills in the 1950s pushed the idea of "The Power Elite" from a left-wing angle. Tinline shows the idea morphing into support for antisemitism and white supremacy.
This is a very well done telling of a fascinating story.
Navasky had seen an article discussing the economic risks of peace. He wanted to take the idea to its logical conclusion. They hired a writer, Leonard Lewin. He wrote up a phony report attributed to a phony governmental study group. They convinced The Dial Pres, a reputable publisher, to publish it as a nonfiction book.
"Report from Iron Mountain on the Possibility and Desirability of Peace" was supposedly written by a high-level group of public and private luminaries in the think tank world. They meet in offices in Iron Mountain, New York. They outlined the negative effects of cutting military spending. They discussed the desirability of working up threats and fears in a way that would support continued spending to help the economy. Lewin capture the think tank tone perfectly.
The jokesters had a good run when the report was released. There were many people who took it seriously. There was an immediate controversy about whether it was legitimate or not
The Government denied it was real, but "of course they would". Eventually Lewin et. al. admitted it was all a big joke, which should have been the end of it.
The amazing part of this story is the second life of the book as a right-wing bible. Tinline shows that by the 1990s the book was being reprinted by the Liberty Lobby, an extreme right-wing group, as proof of the secret government run by the left-wing establishment. And when Lewin and Navasky et. al. claimed that it was a prank, the right wingers said, "of course they would".
Tinline takes a scary deep dive into the wacky right wing. "Iron Mountain" keeps popping up as an admission by the "deep state" of how they really manipulate the citizenry.
Tinline works hard to place the report into perspective. C. Wright Mills in the 1950s pushed the idea of "The Power Elite" from a left-wing angle. Tinline shows the idea morphing into support for antisemitism and white supremacy.
This is a very well done telling of a fascinating story.
July 3, 2025
At first, I didn’t understand the focus of the book. I made the leap to it being a story about the Iron Mountain facility, a place for business continuity after a nuclear war (which is silly in its own right). Instead its about a book published as if it was a real report from a study group, but actually was genius satire.
A fake report about what would happen if peace broke out across the world. It plays on the fact that the US Government did create numerous study groups over the years to examine all kinds of things. The Jasons comes to mind, the group that thought it would be a good idea to use nuclear bombs to propel a spaceship (technically it could work...). The public then and now knows the US Government suppresses a lot of information that eventually gets leaked in some manner. Insert the characters who conceived, wrote and executed this masterpiece of a joke.
The author does a good job inserting us into the era and the people involved. The book hit at the right time, with the distrust of the government rising due to the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights demonstrations. The people knew the FBI and others were tracking dissidents. The vibe of the book hit the right notes for a lot of people to take it as true. I love the part where the Johnson administration has to do their own check to see if the report was real (they determined it was a fake and let it be).
The scary part is how the book took on a life of its own, even after the author and editors told the world it was all a joke, a hoax, a way of getting attention on the fact we are primed for war. There is even a guy who was serious in determining exactly who was in the study group, convincing himself he had about half named.
A product of the far left in the 1960’s, it was taken as gospel by the far right in the decades after. Each year, more people take it as real document, using it as a justification for their own extreme views. The conspiracy nuts love it, as since no one could ever prove a negative in their minds, it is the truth. Even now it is convincing people that the US Government is ready to act in some dystopian way. Except that right on our TV’s the dystopian is starting, just not in the sensational manner as in the report. A lot of people don’t want reality anymore, they want yummy fiction that feels real & _Iron Mountain_ gives them that.
A fake report about what would happen if peace broke out across the world. It plays on the fact that the US Government did create numerous study groups over the years to examine all kinds of things. The Jasons comes to mind, the group that thought it would be a good idea to use nuclear bombs to propel a spaceship (technically it could work...). The public then and now knows the US Government suppresses a lot of information that eventually gets leaked in some manner. Insert the characters who conceived, wrote and executed this masterpiece of a joke.
The author does a good job inserting us into the era and the people involved. The book hit at the right time, with the distrust of the government rising due to the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights demonstrations. The people knew the FBI and others were tracking dissidents. The vibe of the book hit the right notes for a lot of people to take it as true. I love the part where the Johnson administration has to do their own check to see if the report was real (they determined it was a fake and let it be).
The scary part is how the book took on a life of its own, even after the author and editors told the world it was all a joke, a hoax, a way of getting attention on the fact we are primed for war. There is even a guy who was serious in determining exactly who was in the study group, convincing himself he had about half named.
A product of the far left in the 1960’s, it was taken as gospel by the far right in the decades after. Each year, more people take it as real document, using it as a justification for their own extreme views. The conspiracy nuts love it, as since no one could ever prove a negative in their minds, it is the truth. Even now it is convincing people that the US Government is ready to act in some dystopian way. Except that right on our TV’s the dystopian is starting, just not in the sensational manner as in the report. A lot of people don’t want reality anymore, they want yummy fiction that feels real & _Iron Mountain_ gives them that.
June 10, 2025
"But today, politicians at points across the spectrum are retailing fiction-filled world views that fuel mutual incomprehension and hostility. In such a world we really need to be able to distinguish between fact and fiction. We no longer have the luxury of seeing everything as narrative." (249)
Tinline excellently lays out the direct path from the original publication of the infamous hoax book "Report from Iron Mountain" right up to the QAnon conspiracies of today. I found it both terrifying and interesting that the issues we think are perhaps modern (people blindly believing and following whatever they hear, the rise of conspiracy theories each crazier than the last, the refusal to believe the actual truth) have actually been around since the 60s.
What's most sad, however, is that the people who most need to read this book, to see how what they so desperately want to believe has most likely been no more than a continuation and misrepresentation of the original hoaxes of yesteryear. Even I as a person who doesn't really believe in or follow conspiracy theories much, found myself shocked to see that even some mainstream stuff that I might find reasonable carries the twisted history of this report's first printing.
The best nonfiction for me both entertains and teaches. I felt myself learning how to even be more critical of the content I'm consuming, to be more wary of fiction presented as fact, and the sources that are presented. I have often said since 2016 that we are living in a world that has become the farce, a post-truth world. As Tinline says, "...even if what is happening in the world is exactly the same as what a fictional group of people talk about, you can't use that as evidence of anyone's intent. Because it's fiction." (228) As our world devolves more into a blurred "faction" (fiction + fact) state, this book might just be required reading for us to reflect on and understand jut how we got here.
I would have liked more connection to the modern, post-2016 world. The book was obviously approaching publication date and had to do what it could to touch upon Covid and January 6th themes. And the last chapter reads a bit choppier than the previous, solid ones before. However, in the end, this was an excellent read and very worth the time.
Tinline excellently lays out the direct path from the original publication of the infamous hoax book "Report from Iron Mountain" right up to the QAnon conspiracies of today. I found it both terrifying and interesting that the issues we think are perhaps modern (people blindly believing and following whatever they hear, the rise of conspiracy theories each crazier than the last, the refusal to believe the actual truth) have actually been around since the 60s.
What's most sad, however, is that the people who most need to read this book, to see how what they so desperately want to believe has most likely been no more than a continuation and misrepresentation of the original hoaxes of yesteryear. Even I as a person who doesn't really believe in or follow conspiracy theories much, found myself shocked to see that even some mainstream stuff that I might find reasonable carries the twisted history of this report's first printing.
The best nonfiction for me both entertains and teaches. I felt myself learning how to even be more critical of the content I'm consuming, to be more wary of fiction presented as fact, and the sources that are presented. I have often said since 2016 that we are living in a world that has become the farce, a post-truth world. As Tinline says, "...even if what is happening in the world is exactly the same as what a fictional group of people talk about, you can't use that as evidence of anyone's intent. Because it's fiction." (228) As our world devolves more into a blurred "faction" (fiction + fact) state, this book might just be required reading for us to reflect on and understand jut how we got here.
I would have liked more connection to the modern, post-2016 world. The book was obviously approaching publication date and had to do what it could to touch upon Covid and January 6th themes. And the last chapter reads a bit choppier than the previous, solid ones before. However, in the end, this was an excellent read and very worth the time.
May 31, 2025
A Brilliant Investigation into How Fake News Shaped Modern Conspiracy Culture
Phil Tinline has produced a masterful work of investigative history that reads like a thriller while providing crucial insights into the origins of contemporary conspiracy thinking. This riveting examination of a 1967 satirical hoax and its extraordinary afterlife offers both compelling storytelling and essential analysis of how misinformation can take on a life of its own in American political culture.
What makes this book so compelling is Tinline's meticulous reconstruction of how a political satirist's fake government report—claiming that peace "would almost certainly not be in the best interests of a stable society"—managed to fool major news outlets and continue influencing public opinion long after its exposure as a hoax. The author's detective work in tracing the document's creation, dissemination, and persistent influence demonstrates exceptional research skills and narrative ability.
Tinline's greatest achievement is his insightful analysis of the cultural and political conditions that made Americans so receptive to believing in shadowy government conspiracies. His exploration of how the Iron Mountain report helped prime the public for decades of conspiracy theories—from JFK assassination plots to the rise of QAnon—provides invaluable context for understanding our current information environment.
The book succeeds brilliantly as both historical investigation and contemporary warning. Tinline's ability to connect a seemingly obscure 1960s hoax to today's conspiracy culture reveals important patterns about how distrust in institutions develops and spreads. This is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand how fake documents can generate real political consequences, making it both a fascinating historical study and a urgent examination of the information challenges facing democratic societies.
Phil Tinline has produced a masterful work of investigative history that reads like a thriller while providing crucial insights into the origins of contemporary conspiracy thinking. This riveting examination of a 1967 satirical hoax and its extraordinary afterlife offers both compelling storytelling and essential analysis of how misinformation can take on a life of its own in American political culture.
What makes this book so compelling is Tinline's meticulous reconstruction of how a political satirist's fake government report—claiming that peace "would almost certainly not be in the best interests of a stable society"—managed to fool major news outlets and continue influencing public opinion long after its exposure as a hoax. The author's detective work in tracing the document's creation, dissemination, and persistent influence demonstrates exceptional research skills and narrative ability.
Tinline's greatest achievement is his insightful analysis of the cultural and political conditions that made Americans so receptive to believing in shadowy government conspiracies. His exploration of how the Iron Mountain report helped prime the public for decades of conspiracy theories—from JFK assassination plots to the rise of QAnon—provides invaluable context for understanding our current information environment.
The book succeeds brilliantly as both historical investigation and contemporary warning. Tinline's ability to connect a seemingly obscure 1960s hoax to today's conspiracy culture reveals important patterns about how distrust in institutions develops and spreads. This is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand how fake documents can generate real political consequences, making it both a fascinating historical study and a urgent examination of the information challenges facing democratic societies.
June 20, 2025
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this eARC in audiobook format.
Phil Tinline’s Ghosts of Iron Mountain isn’t just a deep-dive into a 20th-century political fabrication—it’s a blistering, often unnerving interrogation of how fear, mythmaking, and manipulation have calcified into America’s cultural DNA. In audiobook form, the effect is even more pronounced, as the medium underscores the eerie resonance between the hoax’s origins and its echo in today’s political discourse.
Tinline unpacks the 1967 publication of The Report from Iron Mountain, a satirical “think tank” document that claimed war was essential to societal stability. It was later revealed as a hoax, but not before conspiracy theorists, pundits, and even policymakers took it seriously. Rather than simply debunking it, Tinline is more interested in why it worked—why people needed to believe it.
The prose is meticulous without being dry, and Tinline’s tone dances the line between historian and cultural diagnostician. In audio, that balance becomes critical. The narrator brings a restrained urgency to the storytelling—no melodrama, just cool, deliberate pacing that lets the implications sink in. It’s the kind of delivery that makes you pause, rewind, and re-listen, just to catch every chilling parallel.
But what gives this audiobook its gut-punch is not the hoax itself. It’s the way Tinline connects its themes—strategic fear, truth decay, and the machinery of public perception—to America’s current ideological battlegrounds. The result is a listening experience that feels less like history and more like prophecy that already came true.
Ghosts of Iron Mountain isn’t here to comfort. It’s here to provoke, to peel back the polished rhetoric and expose the scaffolding underneath. On audio, it becomes even more personal—like a voice whispering in your ear that the ghosts never really left. They just changed names.
Phil Tinline’s Ghosts of Iron Mountain isn’t just a deep-dive into a 20th-century political fabrication—it’s a blistering, often unnerving interrogation of how fear, mythmaking, and manipulation have calcified into America’s cultural DNA. In audiobook form, the effect is even more pronounced, as the medium underscores the eerie resonance between the hoax’s origins and its echo in today’s political discourse.
Tinline unpacks the 1967 publication of The Report from Iron Mountain, a satirical “think tank” document that claimed war was essential to societal stability. It was later revealed as a hoax, but not before conspiracy theorists, pundits, and even policymakers took it seriously. Rather than simply debunking it, Tinline is more interested in why it worked—why people needed to believe it.
The prose is meticulous without being dry, and Tinline’s tone dances the line between historian and cultural diagnostician. In audio, that balance becomes critical. The narrator brings a restrained urgency to the storytelling—no melodrama, just cool, deliberate pacing that lets the implications sink in. It’s the kind of delivery that makes you pause, rewind, and re-listen, just to catch every chilling parallel.
But what gives this audiobook its gut-punch is not the hoax itself. It’s the way Tinline connects its themes—strategic fear, truth decay, and the machinery of public perception—to America’s current ideological battlegrounds. The result is a listening experience that feels less like history and more like prophecy that already came true.
Ghosts of Iron Mountain isn’t here to comfort. It’s here to provoke, to peel back the polished rhetoric and expose the scaffolding underneath. On audio, it becomes even more personal—like a voice whispering in your ear that the ghosts never really left. They just changed names.
May 22, 2025
An OK book. It possibly could be made better, but maybe not.
I'd never before heard of "Report from Iron Mountain," let alone its six-degrees-of-Kevin-Bacon "legs" to have various degrees of ties to and influence on the likes of Alex Jones and Tim McVeigh, and Oliver Stone, Mark Lane and others.
And that part itself is interesting. It was written as a leftist spoof of militarized think tanks. But, it got its big boost among wingnuts, as the book notes, when Liberty Lobby founder Willis Carto took it as real and ran with it — including republishing it without permission. From there, it spread, as noted above.
The spoof was written at the instigation, above all, of Monacle founder Victor Navasky, recently installed as editor of The Nation.
And, this is where we start having problems. The spoof itself and its pre-winger history and reception, is pamphlet length.
Second, the hoax of the century? No. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion were written less than 100 years earlier and far more momentous.
Third, the alleged degree of influence on Trump? Overstated, for reasons to do mainly with Trump's psyche, and probably at least in part clickbait.
That said, the "legs" of the Report show two things:
1. As I have written elsewhere, conspiracy theories are the new Gnosticism, an idea sadly not pursued further in this context by author Phil Tinline.
2. Contra some leftists, and some semi-leftists or pseudo-leftists like Noah Berlatsky, horseshoe theory is real.
I'd never before heard of "Report from Iron Mountain," let alone its six-degrees-of-Kevin-Bacon "legs" to have various degrees of ties to and influence on the likes of Alex Jones and Tim McVeigh, and Oliver Stone, Mark Lane and others.
And that part itself is interesting. It was written as a leftist spoof of militarized think tanks. But, it got its big boost among wingnuts, as the book notes, when Liberty Lobby founder Willis Carto took it as real and ran with it — including republishing it without permission. From there, it spread, as noted above.
The spoof was written at the instigation, above all, of Monacle founder Victor Navasky, recently installed as editor of The Nation.
And, this is where we start having problems. The spoof itself and its pre-winger history and reception, is pamphlet length.
Second, the hoax of the century? No. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion were written less than 100 years earlier and far more momentous.
Third, the alleged degree of influence on Trump? Overstated, for reasons to do mainly with Trump's psyche, and probably at least in part clickbait.
That said, the "legs" of the Report show two things:
1. As I have written elsewhere, conspiracy theories are the new Gnosticism, an idea sadly not pursued further in this context by author Phil Tinline.
2. Contra some leftists, and some semi-leftists or pseudo-leftists like Noah Berlatsky, horseshoe theory is real.
July 2, 2025
When I was a reporter, I can recall doing a feature about an individual and his family who passionately believed that the government was behind a grand scheme to subvert individual liberty in favor of the military industrial complex and the coming Armageddon. He showed me all kinds of books and pamphlets which he said supported his theory of world domination by the power elite.
One of the books he cited was “Report from Iron Mountain,” by Leonard Lewin. Imagine my surprise many years later when, quite by accident, I picked up of “Ghosts of Iron Mountain” by Phil Timline. In it, Timline lays out in detail how Lewin constructed a hoax that a government study group had been meeting at Iron Mountain, a very real nuclear bunker in upstate New York. The purpose of this fictitious group was to examine ways to promote war to benefit the business elite.
Lewin did such a good job creating his hoax that years later the book would be adopted by the far right as gospel. In fact, some of the most prominent far right publishers would violate copyright in order to republish a pirated version of the original book.
Of course, the original book was written long before the Internet, but its premise has continued to live on in countless blogs and sites on the dark web.
This well-documented book illustrates the danger of misinformation and how long it can last in the consciousness of the general public who are prone to believe in conspiracy theories.
One of the books he cited was “Report from Iron Mountain,” by Leonard Lewin. Imagine my surprise many years later when, quite by accident, I picked up of “Ghosts of Iron Mountain” by Phil Timline. In it, Timline lays out in detail how Lewin constructed a hoax that a government study group had been meeting at Iron Mountain, a very real nuclear bunker in upstate New York. The purpose of this fictitious group was to examine ways to promote war to benefit the business elite.
Lewin did such a good job creating his hoax that years later the book would be adopted by the far right as gospel. In fact, some of the most prominent far right publishers would violate copyright in order to republish a pirated version of the original book.
Of course, the original book was written long before the Internet, but its premise has continued to live on in countless blogs and sites on the dark web.
This well-documented book illustrates the danger of misinformation and how long it can last in the consciousness of the general public who are prone to believe in conspiracy theories.
December 30, 2025
I picked up Ghosts of Iron Mountain by Phil Tinline because I’d really appreciated his previous book and the way he placed contemporary issues into a long historical arc. While I didn’t find Ghosts of Iron Mountain quite as strong as his earlier work, it was still a really enjoyable and thought-provoking read.
The first part of the book, which dives into the 1960s and the creation of the post-war military state in America, was particularly fascinating for me. Tinline really shines in giving that historical context, and I learned a lot about the New Left critique and how things were shifting in the run-up to Vietnam. That was the part that really sparked my interest and made me want to dig even deeper into that era.
In the second half, the book shifts focus to how those ideas took on a life of their own, morphing into fodder for the radical right, conspiracy theories, and figures like Alex Jones. While this was interesting, I found myself wishing it could have gone a bit deeper. It left me wanting to explore more about that post-war moment and the initial transformations in American political culture.
Overall, it’s a solid and thought-provoking read that might leave you, like me, wanting to dive even further into some of the history he touches on. If you're interested in how 1960s critiques evolved into modern conspiracies, this book is definitely worth your time.
The first part of the book, which dives into the 1960s and the creation of the post-war military state in America, was particularly fascinating for me. Tinline really shines in giving that historical context, and I learned a lot about the New Left critique and how things were shifting in the run-up to Vietnam. That was the part that really sparked my interest and made me want to dig even deeper into that era.
In the second half, the book shifts focus to how those ideas took on a life of their own, morphing into fodder for the radical right, conspiracy theories, and figures like Alex Jones. While this was interesting, I found myself wishing it could have gone a bit deeper. It left me wanting to explore more about that post-war moment and the initial transformations in American political culture.
Overall, it’s a solid and thought-provoking read that might leave you, like me, wanting to dive even further into some of the history he touches on. If you're interested in how 1960s critiques evolved into modern conspiracies, this book is definitely worth your time.
July 22, 2025
I don't purport to understand most of it because political maneuvering, machinations, and power escape my full grasp but Tinline provides additional context to help understand how this hoax took on a life of its own.
A story that became more true rather than satire because of it's deep understanding of the organization of politics focuses on it is often presumed that war starts when politicians need to cover up funny business or to keep the economy going which is how many felt around the Vietnam War. So taking the story about Iron Mountain in upstate New York, a bunker that was carved of an old iron mine to protect wealthy individuals in case of a nuclear attack became the foundation for stories about the larger handling of war and politics.
And it doesn't stay in that era as it brings it to America today with other historical events giving additional value to what occurred then.
A story that became more true rather than satire because of it's deep understanding of the organization of politics focuses on it is often presumed that war starts when politicians need to cover up funny business or to keep the economy going which is how many felt around the Vietnam War. So taking the story about Iron Mountain in upstate New York, a bunker that was carved of an old iron mine to protect wealthy individuals in case of a nuclear attack became the foundation for stories about the larger handling of war and politics.
And it doesn't stay in that era as it brings it to America today with other historical events giving additional value to what occurred then.
October 20, 2025
(3.5 stars) A satirical type work from the 1960s that somehow manages to take on a life of its own, this book covers the history of a conspiracy-type work that some took to be literal, driving conspiracy theories that rival some of the classics from world history. Perhaps people just love a good conspiracy theory, no matter how fake, to follow and believe that it is the real thing. Enter this work. It take something from the depths of the Cold War, and can impact the modern (2020s) life and politics. It is sad in a way that people allow themselves to be taken this way, but perhaps a work like this shows the gullibility of people and how other will leverage that for their own gain. That this work probably shouldn't have ever been written is a consideration, but it is what it is. Worth some time to read, even if you may not revisit it. Then again, in this current social-political environment, you may face it again, even if you don't want to see it.
November 9, 2025
Interesting read, lots of good info.
My concern is the trend to classify facts as conspiracy theory because some wing nut has a conspiracy regarding the how/why of the facts.
As an example, if some right/left winger makes a bunch of noise about 2 + 2 = 4 because an alien told him so and added that it is a means of controlling the masses by a select few, doesn’t make 2 + 2 = 4 not a true fact.
Just because some wing nut has outlandish theories about how/why 2 + 2 = 4, doesn’t make it less true.
2 + 2 = 4. That is a fact.
Not everyone who believes 2 + 2 = 4 is a conspiracy theorist.
We appear to have a culture that thinks this way. “2 + 2 must not equal 4 because that person believes it and look at all their outlandish theories about it and everyone that does believe 2 + 2 = 4 must also be an idiot.”
Burying the truth, for any reason, is never good.
I fear some who read this may “bury some truth” because of how some facts are represented.
My concern is the trend to classify facts as conspiracy theory because some wing nut has a conspiracy regarding the how/why of the facts.
As an example, if some right/left winger makes a bunch of noise about 2 + 2 = 4 because an alien told him so and added that it is a means of controlling the masses by a select few, doesn’t make 2 + 2 = 4 not a true fact.
Just because some wing nut has outlandish theories about how/why 2 + 2 = 4, doesn’t make it less true.
2 + 2 = 4. That is a fact.
Not everyone who believes 2 + 2 = 4 is a conspiracy theorist.
We appear to have a culture that thinks this way. “2 + 2 must not equal 4 because that person believes it and look at all their outlandish theories about it and everyone that does believe 2 + 2 = 4 must also be an idiot.”
Burying the truth, for any reason, is never good.
I fear some who read this may “bury some truth” because of how some facts are represented.
April 14, 2025
An almost interesting attempt to describe the hoax from the 1960, a report saying the government said war was needed for the economy, and its impact on US politics since. Sadly, the author starts with his own error. In the introduction, he mentions "why … did a majority of Americans vote for a former president…?' It wasn't even a majority of Americans who cast ballots, it was a plurality. It certainly wasn't a majority of Americans.
There are other errors. When you're talking about hoaxes, you really should get your facts straight. Worse, he spends too much time on polemics rather than making it an interesting story. The addiction, both on the mainstream right and the far left, to conspiracy theories is dangerous; but this book is too annoying to care about how the author makes the link.
There are other errors. When you're talking about hoaxes, you really should get your facts straight. Worse, he spends too much time on polemics rather than making it an interesting story. The addiction, both on the mainstream right and the far left, to conspiracy theories is dangerous; but this book is too annoying to care about how the author makes the link.
May 20, 2025
A fascinating history of conspiracy in America following the fall of the USSR up to the current time. This is the story of a political hoax, an entirely fictitious account of a non-existent government study of the problems that should be anticipated if war were to be eliminated world-wide. It was a hoax that worked too well. Even when the perpetrators admitted their fiction, millions of people continued to believe the report, as they continue to do today.
Full understanding of this story would be enhanced by reading the actual published Report from Iron Mountain on the Possibility and Desirability of Peace, which is available free, online via the Internet Archive. It is a short book which is easy to read in one sitting.
Inclusion of more info explaining the content of the actual report would have raised my rating from 3 to 4 stars.
Full understanding of this story would be enhanced by reading the actual published Report from Iron Mountain on the Possibility and Desirability of Peace, which is available free, online via the Internet Archive. It is a short book which is easy to read in one sitting.
Inclusion of more info explaining the content of the actual report would have raised my rating from 3 to 4 stars.
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