Enemies Within: The Culture of Conspiracy in Modern America

by Robert Alan Goldberg

There is a hunger for conspiracy news in America. Hundreds of Internet websites, magazines, newsletters, even entire publishing houses, disseminate information on invisible enemies and their secret activities, subversions, and coverups. Those who suspect conspiracies behind events in the news--the crash of TWA Flight 800, the death of Marilyn Monroe--join generations of Americans, from the colonial period to the present day, who have entertained visions of vast plots. In this enthralling book Robert Goldberg focuses on five major conspiracy theories of the past half-century, examining how they became widely popular in the United States and why they have remained so. In the post–World War II decades conspiracy theories have become more numerous, more commonly believed, and more deeply embedded in our culture, Goldberg contends. He investigates conspiracy theories regarding the Roswell UFO incident, the Communist threat, the rise of the Antichrist, the assassination of President John Kennedy, and the Jewish plot against black America, in each case taking historical, social, and political environments into account. Conspiracy theories are not merely the products of a lunatic fringe, the author shows. Rather, paranoid rhetoric and thinking are disturbingly central in America today. With media validation and dissemination of conspiracy ideas, and federal government behavior that damages public confidence and faith, the ground is fertile for conspiracy thinking.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics

368 pages, Hardcover

First published October 11, 2001

Reviews

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've just re-read Dr. Goldberg's study of conspiracy in America. The main message here is that conspiracy is completely ingrained in American thought. It is not only pervasive in our entertainment (movies, television, Internet), but it's how many Americans view their government. While I understand that Vietnam and Watergate especially created a strong sense of cynicism toward government, I'm confused why that means we will then turn around and accept as true all sorts of nonsense. Goldberg doesn't really give me the explanations I'm looking for but the book is an excellent catalog of crazy, paranoid ideas throughout U.S. history.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for a class. Interesting overview of conspiracy thinking in the US.

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

“A conspiracy theorist does not operate in a vacuum."

I wouldn’t really call this a culture of conspiracy theory. Where it does have a very nice chapter dedicated to the history and implications behind America’s craze for conspiracy, it really only takes five “big ones”. 5 main theories: New world order, The Antichrist, President John F Kennedy, plot against black america, Roswell.

Their scenarios intertwine, making them mutually reinforcing, at least thats what he tries to convey. That’s what the government wants you to think. Conspiracy theories run deep in American society, as far back as the witch trials and Boston Tea Party.

While I was only personally interested in reading about Roswell, so I’m afraid I skimmed the other four parts, that being said I was not impressed with the detail and lack of understanding or knowledge for the theories inside. I was fascinated to see the facts about Malcolm X and antisemitism, the Kennedys, and Bill Clinton, but not enough to truly care since none of them happened in my lifetime?? I don’t really understand the far reach of this kind of thing. Also the way the facts are just laid out randomly, without a consensus as to what drove the conspiracy theories, was odd. It’s like sure they connect, but are you trying to force them to connect?

I just expected a bit more detail, and a bit more science and fact, but instead I got what seemed like news papers clips tacked together to form a “book” about how a culture has supreme distrust in its government. This book is about conspiracy theories yes, but it doesn’t try to debunk them, and it doesn’t try to explain the culture more than just “bad stuff happens all the time, don’t trust anything, and it takes a village.”

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On rosewell:

“The making of such an icon is a collective effort. With their eyes fixed on the heavens and fired by missionary zeal and economic necessity, grassroots men and women shifted for clues of the extraordinary kind."

Hundreds upon thousands of unverified witnesses, first hand accounts, fired military personnel, and the like contributed to America’s most noteworthy conspiracy theory about a weather balloon designed to detect nuclear bombs. The government will go to great lengths to keep something a secret.

[Tone · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the witch trials of the colonies to today, Americans have always had a paranoid fearful streak.