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A Death on W Street: The Murder of Seth Rich and the Age of Conspiracy
In the early hours of July 10, 2016 gunshots rang out, and a young man lay dead on a quiet Washington, D.C. street. Who killed Seth Rich? When he was buried in his hometown his rabbi declared, “There are no answers for a young man gunned down in the prime of his life.” The rabbi was wrong. There were in fact many answers—way too many.
In the absence of an arrest, a howling mob filled the void. A high-level cast of provocateurs encouraged wild speculation and fantastical theories on social media. It wasn’t until Fox News took the rumors from the fringes to the mainstream that Seth Rich’s life and death grew into something unexpected—one of the foundational conspiracy theories of modern times.
A Death on W Street unravels this gripping saga of murder, madness, and political chicanery, one that would ensnare Hillary Clinton and Steve Bannon, a popular pizzeria in northwest D.C. and the most powerful voices in American media. It's the story of an idealistic twenty-seven-year-old political staffer who became a tragic victim of the culture wars until his family decided it had no choice but to defend his name and end the cruel deceptions surrounding his death.
In the absence of an arrest, a howling mob filled the void. A high-level cast of provocateurs encouraged wild speculation and fantastical theories on social media. It wasn’t until Fox News took the rumors from the fringes to the mainstream that Seth Rich’s life and death grew into something unexpected—one of the foundational conspiracy theories of modern times.
A Death on W Street unravels this gripping saga of murder, madness, and political chicanery, one that would ensnare Hillary Clinton and Steve Bannon, a popular pizzeria in northwest D.C. and the most powerful voices in American media. It's the story of an idealistic twenty-seven-year-old political staffer who became a tragic victim of the culture wars until his family decided it had no choice but to defend his name and end the cruel deceptions surrounding his death.
368 pages, Hardcover
First published September 6, 2022
52 people are currently reading
3068 people want to read
About the author
Andy Kroll
1 book23 followersI'm an investigative reporter for ProPublica, a news organization that exposes abuses of power and publishes hard-hitting journalism in the public interest.
My just-published first book is A DEATH ON W STREET: THE MURDER OF SETH RICH AND THE AGE OF CONSPIRACY. It’s about the death of DNC staffer Seth Rich, the explosion of conspiracy theories about his life and murder, and how his family battled the most powerful media organization in the world to defend the truth and seek justice. I call it a true-crime story for the post-truth era.
Previously I was the Washington bureau chief for Rolling Stone. I’ve worked for Mother Jones, National Journal, and The California Sunday Magazine. I write features, profiles, and investigative pieces about politics, Hollywood, Wall Street, crime, and everything in between.
I’ve devoted my journalism career to writing about the nexus of politics, money, power, and democracy. I’ve investigated how the wealthy convert financial capital into political capital, and uncovered the distorting and insidious effects of dark money on policy-making and fair elections. If there is a broad theme in my work, it is how secret donors, captured politicians, and unchecked corporate power pose a threat to American democracy. My reporting has sparked federal probes, congressional investigations, and been cited in national and international news outlets, academic papers, and legal briefs.
I live in Washington, DC, with my wife and two spoiled cats. I grew up in Portage, Michigan, and am an insufferably proud graduate of the University of Michigan.
My just-published first book is A DEATH ON W STREET: THE MURDER OF SETH RICH AND THE AGE OF CONSPIRACY. It’s about the death of DNC staffer Seth Rich, the explosion of conspiracy theories about his life and murder, and how his family battled the most powerful media organization in the world to defend the truth and seek justice. I call it a true-crime story for the post-truth era.
Previously I was the Washington bureau chief for Rolling Stone. I’ve worked for Mother Jones, National Journal, and The California Sunday Magazine. I write features, profiles, and investigative pieces about politics, Hollywood, Wall Street, crime, and everything in between.
I’ve devoted my journalism career to writing about the nexus of politics, money, power, and democracy. I’ve investigated how the wealthy convert financial capital into political capital, and uncovered the distorting and insidious effects of dark money on policy-making and fair elections. If there is a broad theme in my work, it is how secret donors, captured politicians, and unchecked corporate power pose a threat to American democracy. My reporting has sparked federal probes, congressional investigations, and been cited in national and international news outlets, academic papers, and legal briefs.
I live in Washington, DC, with my wife and two spoiled cats. I grew up in Portage, Michigan, and am an insufferably proud graduate of the University of Michigan.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews
February 9, 2023
Just finished the last chapter and am coming away both stunned and infuriated, as well as repulsed all over again by the unmitigated vileness of the far right-wing social media and legacy media players who squelched any vestigial pangs of decency in their desperate efforts to distract from the real source of the DNC email leaks.
Baseless conspiracy theorists treated Seth Rich and his surviving family members not as human beings but as inanimate props in an invented clock and dagger world. That truth-denying, morality-free opportunists like Sean Hannity, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Ed Butowsky and Matt Couch exist is no surprise, but the fact that they haven’t been completely banished from the political landscape in disgrace is disgusting.
Deeply important subject told in a fascinating and thorough manner.
Five stars.
Baseless conspiracy theorists treated Seth Rich and his surviving family members not as human beings but as inanimate props in an invented clock and dagger world. That truth-denying, morality-free opportunists like Sean Hannity, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Ed Butowsky and Matt Couch exist is no surprise, but the fact that they haven’t been completely banished from the political landscape in disgrace is disgusting.
Deeply important subject told in a fascinating and thorough manner.
Five stars.
April 26, 2023
This book is infuriating.
Seth Rich shouldn't be famous. He was a random worker for the Democratic National Committee. He was just a regular person, living a regular life who was tragically murdered in the summer of 2016. The way Seth died is unfortunately pretty normal, he was walking home from a D.C bar drunk in the middle of the night when someone shot and killed him in a robbery gone wrong......
That's it....or it should be....
Instead Seth Rich has been turned into a Right wing hero who was murdered by The Clintons, Democrats, the deep state, or a bunch of other boogiemen on the Right. What was once just a sad tale of street crime has on the Right turned into a vast reaching conspiracy to steal elections and create Covid. I'm personally a big fan of conspiracy theories but I also don't take conspiracies seriously. I don't turn my "belief" in certain conspiracies into my whole life. I also think the conspiracy needs to make just a little bit of sense....and I'm sorry but an all powerful Democratic Party makes ZERO sense. These are the same people who can't pass Universal Healthcare or Paid Parental Leave but they can steal elections and murder multiple people without leaving any trace....
Sure Jan.
The Rich family has gone through Hell. The harassment and torture they have had to endure through no fault of their own is infuriating. They haven't been able to properly mourn their loved one because evil ghouls like Sean Hannity and Julian Assange have weaponized the memory of Seth. No family should have to endure what the Rich family has had to endure. I was shaking with rage reading this book.
Before reading this book I knew the basics of this story; I knew that Seth was a DNC staffer who had been murdered, I knew that the first conspiracies actually came from bitter Bernie supporters(I'm also a bitter Bernie supporter) and I knew that Julian Assange had implied that Seth was the source of the DNC email hack that the media was obsessed with in the lead up to the 2016 Presidential election. What I didn't know was just how crazy these conspiracies were or how big a role Fox News played I'm spreading them....though I shouldn't be surprised.
I really liked this book but if you are not into conspiracy theories or if you don't want to take a deep dive into the world of QAnon crazies then I would avoid this book...but if you love reading about conspiracy theories with a dash of True Crime then this book will not disappoint.
Seth Rich shouldn't be famous. He was a random worker for the Democratic National Committee. He was just a regular person, living a regular life who was tragically murdered in the summer of 2016. The way Seth died is unfortunately pretty normal, he was walking home from a D.C bar drunk in the middle of the night when someone shot and killed him in a robbery gone wrong......
That's it....or it should be....
Instead Seth Rich has been turned into a Right wing hero who was murdered by The Clintons, Democrats, the deep state, or a bunch of other boogiemen on the Right. What was once just a sad tale of street crime has on the Right turned into a vast reaching conspiracy to steal elections and create Covid. I'm personally a big fan of conspiracy theories but I also don't take conspiracies seriously. I don't turn my "belief" in certain conspiracies into my whole life. I also think the conspiracy needs to make just a little bit of sense....and I'm sorry but an all powerful Democratic Party makes ZERO sense. These are the same people who can't pass Universal Healthcare or Paid Parental Leave but they can steal elections and murder multiple people without leaving any trace....
Sure Jan.
The Rich family has gone through Hell. The harassment and torture they have had to endure through no fault of their own is infuriating. They haven't been able to properly mourn their loved one because evil ghouls like Sean Hannity and Julian Assange have weaponized the memory of Seth. No family should have to endure what the Rich family has had to endure. I was shaking with rage reading this book.
Before reading this book I knew the basics of this story; I knew that Seth was a DNC staffer who had been murdered, I knew that the first conspiracies actually came from bitter Bernie supporters(I'm also a bitter Bernie supporter) and I knew that Julian Assange had implied that Seth was the source of the DNC email hack that the media was obsessed with in the lead up to the 2016 Presidential election. What I didn't know was just how crazy these conspiracies were or how big a role Fox News played I'm spreading them....though I shouldn't be surprised.
I really liked this book but if you are not into conspiracy theories or if you don't want to take a deep dive into the world of QAnon crazies then I would avoid this book...but if you love reading about conspiracy theories with a dash of True Crime then this book will not disappoint.
September 7, 2022
When Seth Rich grew up he loved and breathed politics. When he was murdered it would create the most chaotic conspiracy theories in politics. From child molesters to evil pizza owners it would even make being called a Democrat a slur. It would get so out of hand that his parents had to take a national news channel to court for inaccurate statements. If you love True Crime and the chaotic you need to read a murder on W St. it really is one of those books you don’t want to put down. Even if you don’t like politics you still enjoy reading the chaos that was created by people who act like they know everything but in actuality no nothing. This is not just a book about a sad murder, but how out of hand social media has taken politics to a place no one could’ve imagined. I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher and I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review but all opinions are definitely my own.
August 7, 2022
Thanks Netgalley and Public Affairs for sharing this upcoming non fiction title. While this is another entry in the already massive number of books covering the craziness of the Trump presidential era, it is a more personal and moving story than others I’ve read. The harm and hurt inflicted on the family of Seth Rich is staggering and heart-breaking. Andy Kroll’s writing allows the reader to feel great empathy for these regular people thrust into the crazy conspiracy theories and political machinations that defined the Trump presidency. Highly recommend this for a different view of things.
September 4, 2022
An absolute triumph in the political nonfiction and true crime genres, A Death on W Street is one of the most compelling and - yes, I'll say it - unputdownable books I've read this year. And at over 350 pages of fact- and text-heavy nonfiction, that is a feat to pull off. As the author puts it, this book is "true crime for the post-truth era" - and although the term "post-truth" has been used and abused in recent years, that's exactly what this is. Kroll presents an excellent primer on fake news, conspiracy theories, and the anthropology of far-right social media buffoonery.
There are many books that do this, but Kroll's work is particularly effective because he does it through the lens of the murder of Seth Rich, a DNC staffer who was killed in his DC neighborhood in 2016. To put it succinctly, the police's theory was that Seth was killed in an armed robbery gone wrong - but when right-wing Twitter learned about this case, they quickly weaved an elaborate conspiracy theory Seth Rich being assassinated by the DNC and the Clintons for leaking the infamous DNC emails to WikiLeaks.
In addition to the excellent reporting and attention to factual detail in this book, I also loved that Kroll really looks at the human impacts of the conspiracy theories that spread like wildfire on internet forums. For everyone from anonymous 4chan users to Trump, typing and sending lies is easy and virtually consequence-free. But for the owner of the DC pizza joint who was accused of running a sex trafficking ring with John Podesta and the Clintons in the infamous "Pizzagate" scandal, these tweets mean doxxing, constant death threats, and a shooter coming into his place of business and attacking his workers. The central premise of the book revolves around bringing dignity back to Seth Rich and helping his family get justice - not only regarding his murder, but regarding the hundreds of thousands of people who tried to use Seth to prop up whatever cause du jour they wanted him to serve with no regard for who he really was.
This book is truly horrifying as you realize how easy it is for conspiracy theories to spread and you hear from people who genuinely believe these things to be fact. Seth was just one example of how pernicious this far-right "logic" can get, the low journalistic standards that outlets like Fox News adhere to, and how any event can be spun a million ways to help those in power achieve their desired ends. The final result of complete distrust in politicians, institutions, the voting system - and most insane of all - facts!!! is scarier than any horror book I've ever read. Thank you to PublicAffairs for the ARC via Netgalley and I hope everyone reads this excellent book.
There are many books that do this, but Kroll's work is particularly effective because he does it through the lens of the murder of Seth Rich, a DNC staffer who was killed in his DC neighborhood in 2016. To put it succinctly, the police's theory was that Seth was killed in an armed robbery gone wrong - but when right-wing Twitter learned about this case, they quickly weaved an elaborate conspiracy theory Seth Rich being assassinated by the DNC and the Clintons for leaking the infamous DNC emails to WikiLeaks.
In addition to the excellent reporting and attention to factual detail in this book, I also loved that Kroll really looks at the human impacts of the conspiracy theories that spread like wildfire on internet forums. For everyone from anonymous 4chan users to Trump, typing and sending lies is easy and virtually consequence-free. But for the owner of the DC pizza joint who was accused of running a sex trafficking ring with John Podesta and the Clintons in the infamous "Pizzagate" scandal, these tweets mean doxxing, constant death threats, and a shooter coming into his place of business and attacking his workers. The central premise of the book revolves around bringing dignity back to Seth Rich and helping his family get justice - not only regarding his murder, but regarding the hundreds of thousands of people who tried to use Seth to prop up whatever cause du jour they wanted him to serve with no regard for who he really was.
This book is truly horrifying as you realize how easy it is for conspiracy theories to spread and you hear from people who genuinely believe these things to be fact. Seth was just one example of how pernicious this far-right "logic" can get, the low journalistic standards that outlets like Fox News adhere to, and how any event can be spun a million ways to help those in power achieve their desired ends. The final result of complete distrust in politicians, institutions, the voting system - and most insane of all - facts!!! is scarier than any horror book I've ever read. Thank you to PublicAffairs for the ARC via Netgalley and I hope everyone reads this excellent book.
December 25, 2022
As Washington, D. C. Bureau Chief for Rolling Stone, Andy Kroll is well situated to report on the pervasive craziness that seems to have taken over since 2016. Seth Rich’s name has become synonymous with conspiracy, and his rumored influence among Democratic Party operatives as a tech wizard who just may have been involved in some serious hacking (including the leaked emails from the DNC) has made him famous–what he aspired to become. A Death on W Street is a murder mystery as well as an exploration of political and journalistic events in the election of 2016.
Seth was gunned down on the street in Washington, D.C. in the summer of 2016. There was no arrest, and speculation and fantastical theories surfaced on social media about him, his role in the DNC, and other crazy topics. After Fox News ran with the rumors from the fringes to the mainstream that Seth Rich’s life and death grew into something altogether unexpected, making his death one of the most widespread conspiracy theories ever.
A Death on W Street unravels the murder, madness, and political wackiness that included both Hillary Clinton and Steve Bannon, as well as a popular pizzeria in northwest DC. Seth was an idealistic twenty-seven-year-old relatively low level political staffer who became a tragic victim of the culture wars, and finally his family decided that they had had enough, and they sued Fox. The book reads like a novel, and is packed with details. My favorite part was finding out that Fox had to pay out a seven figure settlement to Seth’s family for their despicable “reporting.” (Fair and Balanced my a$$). Five stars.
Seth was gunned down on the street in Washington, D.C. in the summer of 2016. There was no arrest, and speculation and fantastical theories surfaced on social media about him, his role in the DNC, and other crazy topics. After Fox News ran with the rumors from the fringes to the mainstream that Seth Rich’s life and death grew into something altogether unexpected, making his death one of the most widespread conspiracy theories ever.
A Death on W Street unravels the murder, madness, and political wackiness that included both Hillary Clinton and Steve Bannon, as well as a popular pizzeria in northwest DC. Seth was an idealistic twenty-seven-year-old relatively low level political staffer who became a tragic victim of the culture wars, and finally his family decided that they had had enough, and they sued Fox. The book reads like a novel, and is packed with details. My favorite part was finding out that Fox had to pay out a seven figure settlement to Seth’s family for their despicable “reporting.” (Fair and Balanced my a$$). Five stars.
September 12, 2022
This is a friend's first book, and I was incredibly excited to read it. Living in DC, I knew bits and pieces of the story surrounding Seth Rich's murder and the wild conspiracy theories that grew out of it. But Andy's book offers more than just a retelling of the events. It looks deeply at how our society got to a place where conspiracy theories can so easily thrive, sucking people in and taking on a life of their own. Through Seth's story, Andy explores the harm this does not only to democracy and society at large, but through the pain it inflicts on private, every day people, who were just living their lives and grieve the loss of their son. Parts of this book enraged me. Parts frustrated me. And that's all a credit to Andy's writing. He's a talented story-teller, and his years of experience as an investigative journalist shine through in this book.
August 21, 2023
My favorite moment in the classic film "The Wizard of Oz" is when Dorothy and her three companions arrive before the Wizard and his protective, screening cloak is ripped aside to reveal a short, bald squirrely looking chump trying his damnedest to be scary, tough and important. What a perfect metaphor. It also reminds me of the taunting mantra of little kids everywhere for all time as they tease one another with "I know something you don't know".
I'm learning that's pretty much what conspiracy theories are. We've ALWAYS had them as Americans too, from Sam Adams and the Revolutionary days, through Civil and World Wars, through assassinations and always as a part of politics and our messy democracy. What of course is different now, and for the last couple decades, is the internet and social media in an age of information and constant news. Able to reach millions of people worldwide in seconds, information whether it be true and factual or lies, propaganda and distortions has virtually minimal controls and filters, and an impact we are still just beginning to understand.
Andy Kroll is a respected and award winning investigative reporter who meticulously documents everything he describes in this story, his first book. It's a simple story of the street murder of Seth Rich in Washington in 2016. The robbery/murder was solved and the guilty lifetime criminal is in prison, but it took several years to solve and prosecute. In the meantime an OZ-like Fantasyland sprung like a virus out of the bowels of social media, Network news outlets, bloggers, politicians and Tweeters around the globe.
At the heart and soul of these conspiracy theories was of course misinformation, outright lies, sloppy reporting and the often sinister, human urge to explain things with no evidence or factual understanding of events. The conspiracy surrounding Seth's botched robbery/murder started slowly. A college freshman named Kurtchella, a blogger named Guccifer and a bunch of tweets amplified by made up speculations and innuendos quickly became toxic in our hornet's nest of current politics.
Rumors and misinformation quickly filled all voids and as Russian hackers named Cozy Bear and Fancy Bear were blamed by some as election influencers, an all out campaign blossomed to "prove" that was not true and protect Donald Trump. His supporters flooded Reddit, 4chan, Parler and very quickly Wikileaks with additional lies, spins, speculations and distortions. Julian Assange with a grimace and half answer that said nothing factual during an interview in Holland opened the door wide. "But MAYBE..." or "What if..." or :"Possibly..." or even silence all became FACTS and spread like wildfire.
Soon the alt-right ARMY of influencers, podcasters, media moguls, lying thieves seeking money and fame and wannabees of every color and description jumped on the bandwagon. They all believed right from the start what they want to believe. Stories were reported as fact that had NO FACTS behind them. "But someone else wrote..." or " I heard..." or "Somebody told me...." became rigid, uncompromising truth and those somebodies were NEVER produced or confirmed.
Big names fed the frenzy and lust for anti Democrat embarrassments, hoping to assist Trump. Names like Alex Jones, Steve Bannon, Julian Assange, Roger Stone, Dylan Avery, Malia Zimmerman all reported multiple and numerous lies and profited from it. Then the 'helpers' with an agenda of their own entered the fray on the lie that would assist the Rich family restore Seth's name and reputation from the lies and stupidity. Names like Ed Butowsky, Rod Wheeler, Jack Berkman, Kevin Doherty and Matt Couch all crawled out of their cesspools and were media darlings for a week.
And of course there were no bigger liars and fabricators than Trump himself and his propaganda machine at Fox news, and especially his influential lying cheerleader Sean Hannity. From Democrat run child molestation pizza parlors run by the Clintons, to Seth being assassinated for disclosing to the Russians secret info from the DNC hack, lie after lie became NEWS, and sadly people believed them, spread them and continued to manipulate and twists them into new forms and more conspiracies. And here we are with Q-Anon and a Republican Party filled with self serving political figures from George Santos, to MTG to BoBo to Matt Gaetz all under Kevin McCarthy's tent.
The age of conspiracy is dangerous and threatening our nation and political foundation. Misinformation is not a few lies or crazy ideas we can't take seriously. It's a fundamental attack and cancer that is evil to its core because its intentions and motives are wrong. It wants to hurt, silence, twist and create ONLY the truth that it wants to be heard. It's totalitarian, it dystopian, it's absolutely UN-American and anti democracy.
SOME of this is changing right now. When Rupert Murdoch of Fox publicly states at a deposition that all the Fox reporters and popular figures, INCLUDING Sean Hannity, KNEW they were promoting lies, we have a light in the tunnel for some truth. Assange is in Jail, Alex jones outed as the lying weasel and stripped of his embarrassing wealth. Trump faces legal issues and seems to be becoming more and more irrelevant.
My real hope is that somehow there are enough good people who value truth and decency to purge this cancer from our country. Conspiracy theories will become an AGE in our history, like the Roaring Twenties and Age of Expansion. Somehow our media will be controlled and harnessed for truth and correct and helpful purposes, not just as vehicles of attack and harm. Somehow this political divide will collapse and our wounds heal so we can move forward in positive ways.
I'm learning that's pretty much what conspiracy theories are. We've ALWAYS had them as Americans too, from Sam Adams and the Revolutionary days, through Civil and World Wars, through assassinations and always as a part of politics and our messy democracy. What of course is different now, and for the last couple decades, is the internet and social media in an age of information and constant news. Able to reach millions of people worldwide in seconds, information whether it be true and factual or lies, propaganda and distortions has virtually minimal controls and filters, and an impact we are still just beginning to understand.
Andy Kroll is a respected and award winning investigative reporter who meticulously documents everything he describes in this story, his first book. It's a simple story of the street murder of Seth Rich in Washington in 2016. The robbery/murder was solved and the guilty lifetime criminal is in prison, but it took several years to solve and prosecute. In the meantime an OZ-like Fantasyland sprung like a virus out of the bowels of social media, Network news outlets, bloggers, politicians and Tweeters around the globe.
At the heart and soul of these conspiracy theories was of course misinformation, outright lies, sloppy reporting and the often sinister, human urge to explain things with no evidence or factual understanding of events. The conspiracy surrounding Seth's botched robbery/murder started slowly. A college freshman named Kurtchella, a blogger named Guccifer and a bunch of tweets amplified by made up speculations and innuendos quickly became toxic in our hornet's nest of current politics.
Rumors and misinformation quickly filled all voids and as Russian hackers named Cozy Bear and Fancy Bear were blamed by some as election influencers, an all out campaign blossomed to "prove" that was not true and protect Donald Trump. His supporters flooded Reddit, 4chan, Parler and very quickly Wikileaks with additional lies, spins, speculations and distortions. Julian Assange with a grimace and half answer that said nothing factual during an interview in Holland opened the door wide. "But MAYBE..." or "What if..." or :"Possibly..." or even silence all became FACTS and spread like wildfire.
Soon the alt-right ARMY of influencers, podcasters, media moguls, lying thieves seeking money and fame and wannabees of every color and description jumped on the bandwagon. They all believed right from the start what they want to believe. Stories were reported as fact that had NO FACTS behind them. "But someone else wrote..." or " I heard..." or "Somebody told me...." became rigid, uncompromising truth and those somebodies were NEVER produced or confirmed.
Big names fed the frenzy and lust for anti Democrat embarrassments, hoping to assist Trump. Names like Alex Jones, Steve Bannon, Julian Assange, Roger Stone, Dylan Avery, Malia Zimmerman all reported multiple and numerous lies and profited from it. Then the 'helpers' with an agenda of their own entered the fray on the lie that would assist the Rich family restore Seth's name and reputation from the lies and stupidity. Names like Ed Butowsky, Rod Wheeler, Jack Berkman, Kevin Doherty and Matt Couch all crawled out of their cesspools and were media darlings for a week.
And of course there were no bigger liars and fabricators than Trump himself and his propaganda machine at Fox news, and especially his influential lying cheerleader Sean Hannity. From Democrat run child molestation pizza parlors run by the Clintons, to Seth being assassinated for disclosing to the Russians secret info from the DNC hack, lie after lie became NEWS, and sadly people believed them, spread them and continued to manipulate and twists them into new forms and more conspiracies. And here we are with Q-Anon and a Republican Party filled with self serving political figures from George Santos, to MTG to BoBo to Matt Gaetz all under Kevin McCarthy's tent.
The age of conspiracy is dangerous and threatening our nation and political foundation. Misinformation is not a few lies or crazy ideas we can't take seriously. It's a fundamental attack and cancer that is evil to its core because its intentions and motives are wrong. It wants to hurt, silence, twist and create ONLY the truth that it wants to be heard. It's totalitarian, it dystopian, it's absolutely UN-American and anti democracy.
SOME of this is changing right now. When Rupert Murdoch of Fox publicly states at a deposition that all the Fox reporters and popular figures, INCLUDING Sean Hannity, KNEW they were promoting lies, we have a light in the tunnel for some truth. Assange is in Jail, Alex jones outed as the lying weasel and stripped of his embarrassing wealth. Trump faces legal issues and seems to be becoming more and more irrelevant.
My real hope is that somehow there are enough good people who value truth and decency to purge this cancer from our country. Conspiracy theories will become an AGE in our history, like the Roaring Twenties and Age of Expansion. Somehow our media will be controlled and harnessed for truth and correct and helpful purposes, not just as vehicles of attack and harm. Somehow this political divide will collapse and our wounds heal so we can move forward in positive ways.
February 25, 2023
This is a really interesting story of how conspiracy theories start and grow. The story takes some detours at times to more tangental conspiracies, but overall, it is the story of how a conspiracy took root and swept an entire family in its wake. It also addresses some of the difficulties bringing suit against people who push these stories with no actual proof. If you are interesting in conspiracies and how it can spin so quickly, this is a good read/listen!
October 11, 2022
I'm cashing in my one-time use of the phrase, "a nonstop page turner!" for this book. Because that's truly what it was.
I heard about this book when the Qanon Anonymous podcast had Andy on an episode to promote it (Episode 201, if you're interested). Listening to that episode unfortunately does give away some of the book, but there is still plenty more story to be gained if you are left pining for more after that episode (as I was).
I was fairly familiar with all the events of this book, and it was a wild ride back down memory lane as I read through each of the book's three acts. I remembered seeing the conspiracies about Seth and Comet Ping Pong Pizza bubbling up across Reddit and Twitter in 2016-2017. I had a coworker who first told me about Qanon in late 2017 and had completely bought into it, regularly giving me updates about what element of "the plan" was set to transpire (never mind that none of those predictions ever came to pass, a fact that always managed to get glossed over when I'd ask pointed questions of my coworker). I remember the summer of 2020 - the heat of the pandemic, when anti-lockdown rhetoric mixed with flat-out denial of reality, which paved the way for Qanon to fully reach critical mass, reawaken Pizzagate, and poison more minds than even Ron Watkins likely had envisioned.
And, of course, along with the rest of America, I watched the events of 1/6/21 unfold in real time.
A word of caution: while this book is an absolutely fascinating and addicting read, it at times is also a maddening one as you learn how fringe conspiracy theorists work to grift their followers as they come up with the most outlandish ideas they can think of. As we have, and continue to see, the more ridiculous and absurd the idea, the more likely it is to find a home among the cesspools of the internet. Andy biographs several real-life examples of these very people, and it's sickening to read about these peoples' complete lack of empathy for other humans and the consequences of the web they spin.
Brilliantly and meticulously researched, this is *the* book that provides the entire picture of a series of unfortunate events.
I heard about this book when the Qanon Anonymous podcast had Andy on an episode to promote it (Episode 201, if you're interested). Listening to that episode unfortunately does give away some of the book, but there is still plenty more story to be gained if you are left pining for more after that episode (as I was).
I was fairly familiar with all the events of this book, and it was a wild ride back down memory lane as I read through each of the book's three acts. I remembered seeing the conspiracies about Seth and Comet Ping Pong Pizza bubbling up across Reddit and Twitter in 2016-2017. I had a coworker who first told me about Qanon in late 2017 and had completely bought into it, regularly giving me updates about what element of "the plan" was set to transpire (never mind that none of those predictions ever came to pass, a fact that always managed to get glossed over when I'd ask pointed questions of my coworker). I remember the summer of 2020 - the heat of the pandemic, when anti-lockdown rhetoric mixed with flat-out denial of reality, which paved the way for Qanon to fully reach critical mass, reawaken Pizzagate, and poison more minds than even Ron Watkins likely had envisioned.
And, of course, along with the rest of America, I watched the events of 1/6/21 unfold in real time.
A word of caution: while this book is an absolutely fascinating and addicting read, it at times is also a maddening one as you learn how fringe conspiracy theorists work to grift their followers as they come up with the most outlandish ideas they can think of. As we have, and continue to see, the more ridiculous and absurd the idea, the more likely it is to find a home among the cesspools of the internet. Andy biographs several real-life examples of these very people, and it's sickening to read about these peoples' complete lack of empathy for other humans and the consequences of the web they spin.
Brilliantly and meticulously researched, this is *the* book that provides the entire picture of a series of unfortunate events.
August 8, 2022
A Death on W Street by Andy Kroll far surpassed my expectations as both investigative journalism and good reading.
I have to admit I came to this half expecting just a bunch of sensationalism interspersed with some analysis. Well, some degree of sensationalism is unavoidable when writing about an incident that took on a life of its own, but nothing here is simply for that sake. Learning more specifically who said what and shared what became every bit as interesting as the most intricately plotted novel, except this was actually happening.
I also expected to bemoan the very existence of entertainment networks masquerading as news agencies, and I did. What Kroll didn't contribute to was just bellyaching about it. The ugliness that social media and faux news networks can sometimes perpetrate is looked at more closely, and while fingers can certainly be pointed at many vile members of both, it also, for me, highlights the amazing willingness of people to accept even the most asinine stories if it casts people they disagree with in a bad light. We are also the problem.
Highly recommended for both the journalism and the fact it is just a plain old good book. Come for the research, stay for the writing.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
I have to admit I came to this half expecting just a bunch of sensationalism interspersed with some analysis. Well, some degree of sensationalism is unavoidable when writing about an incident that took on a life of its own, but nothing here is simply for that sake. Learning more specifically who said what and shared what became every bit as interesting as the most intricately plotted novel, except this was actually happening.
I also expected to bemoan the very existence of entertainment networks masquerading as news agencies, and I did. What Kroll didn't contribute to was just bellyaching about it. The ugliness that social media and faux news networks can sometimes perpetrate is looked at more closely, and while fingers can certainly be pointed at many vile members of both, it also, for me, highlights the amazing willingness of people to accept even the most asinine stories if it casts people they disagree with in a bad light. We are also the problem.
Highly recommended for both the journalism and the fact it is just a plain old good book. Come for the research, stay for the writing.
Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.
January 22, 2023
I watched an episode of the Netflix docuseries "Web of Make Believe: Death, Lies, and the Internet" about the murder of Seth Rich and became quite fascinated by its twists and turns. Andy Kroll took that 50 minute episode and turned it into the deeper dive I was looking for in a way that was compulsively readable. This book would be of interest to fans of true crime and politics, though it leans more into political science. The larger story includes Fox News, QAnon, PizzaGate, and a handful of people I had never heard of before who jumped into the scene to try to monetize the interest in this case. At its heart is Rich's family as they try to find justice for their son/brother, the prosecutors trying to do their job, and the lawyers who take on years of lawsuits to then get Rich's family some justice of their own. I'm sometimes leery of true crime books that sensationalize the crime rather than humanize the victim, but Kroll's actual point-in-fact is that he was trying to write a book that re-centered Seth Rich the human being in this story--which I think he did quite well! I listened to this on audiobook and found it enjoyable to listen to and easy to follow.
September 14, 2023
If you’ve ever had trouble describing exactly how conspiracy theories are born, spread and become widely believed as true, this book is for you. It’s outstanding.
The micro story is how a big lie was built around the unsolved murder is Seth Rich, but it goes far beyond that explaining why people believe in conspiracies, how they become viral, the origin of Q’anon and the tales of other conspiracy theory victims (and how dangerous it can be for such victims). This is the author’s first book and I can’t wait until he writes another one.
Death on W reads like a political thriller because …. It is a true life political thriller.
The micro story is how a big lie was built around the unsolved murder is Seth Rich, but it goes far beyond that explaining why people believe in conspiracies, how they become viral, the origin of Q’anon and the tales of other conspiracy theory victims (and how dangerous it can be for such victims). This is the author’s first book and I can’t wait until he writes another one.
Death on W reads like a political thriller because …. It is a true life political thriller.
April 26, 2023
If you ever watch the news, shaking your head at the ridiculous conspiracy theories people come up with, and wonder how they get started, read this book. Andy Kroll has done a fantastic reporting job, tracking down dozens of people who were involved with creating a conspiracy around the murder of a young man on the streets of DC.
In 2016 Seth Rich was a low level staffer at the Democratic National Committee. He was enthusiastic about his job, and about creating political change. He was a friendly outgoing young man remembered with affection by friends and coworkers.
Early on July 10, 2016, Seth was walking home from a bar when he was shot in the Bloomingdale neighborhood of DC. He was transported to the hospital, but did not survive. Later the same day, the chief operating officer of the DNC, where Scott worked, called the staff together to tell them to hand over their computers. The staffers didn't know it, but this was the beginning of the release of giant DNC email leaks that may have caused Hillary Clinton to lose the 2016 election.
Suddenly, Seth's murder became embroiled in the e-mail leaks, pizzagate, and the Clintons. It was amplified by none other than Fox News. It stretched on for years, exhausting Seth's family, who wanted people to remember their son as the good hearted young man he was, and not some conspirator, or victim of a conspiracy. This is a great book, written in a conversational style, and is occasionally funny. Here's an example: " A lobbyist wearing designer loafers and toting a small yappy dog roamed a dingy parking garage for a secret drop point; it was All the President's Men directed by the Coen brothers. "
In 2016 Seth Rich was a low level staffer at the Democratic National Committee. He was enthusiastic about his job, and about creating political change. He was a friendly outgoing young man remembered with affection by friends and coworkers.
Early on July 10, 2016, Seth was walking home from a bar when he was shot in the Bloomingdale neighborhood of DC. He was transported to the hospital, but did not survive. Later the same day, the chief operating officer of the DNC, where Scott worked, called the staff together to tell them to hand over their computers. The staffers didn't know it, but this was the beginning of the release of giant DNC email leaks that may have caused Hillary Clinton to lose the 2016 election.
Suddenly, Seth's murder became embroiled in the e-mail leaks, pizzagate, and the Clintons. It was amplified by none other than Fox News. It stretched on for years, exhausting Seth's family, who wanted people to remember their son as the good hearted young man he was, and not some conspirator, or victim of a conspiracy. This is a great book, written in a conversational style, and is occasionally funny. Here's an example: " A lobbyist wearing designer loafers and toting a small yappy dog roamed a dingy parking garage for a secret drop point; it was All the President's Men directed by the Coen brothers. "
October 16, 2023
An incredibly well written book that does such a fantastic job with its subject matter.
August 5, 2022
A Death on W Street by Andy Kroll
9781541751149
368 Pages
Publisher: Public Affairs
Release Date: September 6, 2022
Nonfiction, Public Affairs, Politics, History, Murder, Conspiracy, True Crime
Seth Rice wanted to be in politics. He wanted to do right for his country. When he was murdered, the conspiracy theories started. People blamed him for releasing information to Wikileaks. They said he was involved in the child trafficking from a pizza parlor. The family had to hire a private investigator and an attorney to try and clear Seth’s name.
This book has everything, murder, sex, politics, chaos, and conspiracy theories. Unfortunately, it is a true story. It shows us that we should not believe everything we see or hear on social media. The book had a good pace, and the writing style was easy to read. I would recommend this book to anyone that lies to know the truth behind real life events.
9781541751149
368 Pages
Publisher: Public Affairs
Release Date: September 6, 2022
Nonfiction, Public Affairs, Politics, History, Murder, Conspiracy, True Crime
Seth Rice wanted to be in politics. He wanted to do right for his country. When he was murdered, the conspiracy theories started. People blamed him for releasing information to Wikileaks. They said he was involved in the child trafficking from a pizza parlor. The family had to hire a private investigator and an attorney to try and clear Seth’s name.
This book has everything, murder, sex, politics, chaos, and conspiracy theories. Unfortunately, it is a true story. It shows us that we should not believe everything we see or hear on social media. The book had a good pace, and the writing style was easy to read. I would recommend this book to anyone that lies to know the truth behind real life events.
January 17, 2023
Great and terrible
A real reminder that people like Trump and Hannity and Tucker Carlson, who repeat lies they simply don't believe, probably belong in jail.
A real reminder that people like Trump and Hannity and Tucker Carlson, who repeat lies they simply don't believe, probably belong in jail.
July 29, 2023
While I did not know Seth Rich, I know dozens of people like him: smart, dedicated young politicos who come to Washington to make a difference. By all accounts, Rich was a delightful young man, who came from a salt of the earth family.
Rich was murdered in what was almost certainly a botched robbery attempt. A garden variety street crime in a city and country in which such gun murders are, horribly, completely normal.
This is the story, brilliantly told by Andy Kroll, of how Rich's murder was hijacked by the alt right. How they manipulated and then tormented the Rich family. And how the whole thing has contributed to the lunatic conspiracy theory industry that has infected our political discourse like an aggressive cancer. If you follow the news, you know some of this. But you likely do not know all the details or how they intersected in this case. It's an incredible tale, and worthy of your time. You'll come away smarter, but also enraged by the heartlessness of those who twist the knife into the victims of personal tragedy by exploiting them for profit or power.
Rich was murdered in what was almost certainly a botched robbery attempt. A garden variety street crime in a city and country in which such gun murders are, horribly, completely normal.
This is the story, brilliantly told by Andy Kroll, of how Rich's murder was hijacked by the alt right. How they manipulated and then tormented the Rich family. And how the whole thing has contributed to the lunatic conspiracy theory industry that has infected our political discourse like an aggressive cancer. If you follow the news, you know some of this. But you likely do not know all the details or how they intersected in this case. It's an incredible tale, and worthy of your time. You'll come away smarter, but also enraged by the heartlessness of those who twist the knife into the victims of personal tragedy by exploiting them for profit or power.
December 20, 2022
This is a fascinating true story of internet trolls, QAnon theorists, Trump supporters, Russian bots, and plain crazy. Unfortunately, it's also the story of how these individuals marred the reputation of a young killed in Washington, DC and added to the heartbreak of his parents and brother.
Seth Rich worked for the DNC and was about to be promoted to Clinton's 2016 campaign. After a night drinking at a local pub, he was killed in an apparent mugging gone wrong. To add to the tragedy, the followers of unproved conspiracy theories began spreading rumors that he -- and later his brother -- had leaked embarrassing emails and truths about the DNC and Clinton to WikiLeaks. Clinton and the Deep State, of course, gunned him down. Of course.
The story describes the family's attempts to find the murders and then to save their late son's reputation. It also describes how easily people fall for unproved theories and ideas. Scary.
Seth Rich worked for the DNC and was about to be promoted to Clinton's 2016 campaign. After a night drinking at a local pub, he was killed in an apparent mugging gone wrong. To add to the tragedy, the followers of unproved conspiracy theories began spreading rumors that he -- and later his brother -- had leaked embarrassing emails and truths about the DNC and Clinton to WikiLeaks. Clinton and the Deep State, of course, gunned him down. Of course.
The story describes the family's attempts to find the murders and then to save their late son's reputation. It also describes how easily people fall for unproved theories and ideas. Scary.
October 1, 2022
It's difficult to judge this book as one would any other because it is virtually impossible to separate the author from the politics of the matter and his own implicit biases (whether for good or for bad). The author was also close to Mr. Rich and that at times presents its own issues, as well.
Mr. Kroll is certainly a talented writer and the writing itself is quite good. If you're interested in reading some of the first historical pieces of the 2016 election, this is certainly an interesting footnote you should explore. However, if you're looking for nuance this isn't the right book for you.
Mr. Kroll is certainly a talented writer and the writing itself is quite good. If you're interested in reading some of the first historical pieces of the 2016 election, this is certainly an interesting footnote you should explore. However, if you're looking for nuance this isn't the right book for you.
October 9, 2023
This book gets a very rare five star rating from me. I feel like a lot of people have slept on this book and they really shouldn’t.
The author vividly tells the story of Seth Rich’s murder and how it became the topic of political zealots and fed a firestorm with the media. Then he wove together how the media frenzy and keyboard warriors further impeded the solving of Seth’s murder. I was fascinated from beginning to end.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The author vividly tells the story of Seth Rich’s murder and how it became the topic of political zealots and fed a firestorm with the media. Then he wove together how the media frenzy and keyboard warriors further impeded the solving of Seth’s murder. I was fascinated from beginning to end.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
October 3, 2022
Terrific
For readers who, like me, love books on politics, current events, and crime, this is a treat. It’s a serious and substantive analysis of social media’s impact on democracy. It’s also an entertaining if troubling depiction of the kooks the internet has enabled. Finally, it’s a humane portrait of a young man and his family and friends—a corrective to the callously distorted picture of Seth Rich drawn by right wing media.
For readers who, like me, love books on politics, current events, and crime, this is a treat. It’s a serious and substantive analysis of social media’s impact on democracy. It’s also an entertaining if troubling depiction of the kooks the internet has enabled. Finally, it’s a humane portrait of a young man and his family and friends—a corrective to the callously distorted picture of Seth Rich drawn by right wing media.
September 24, 2022
Impeccably detailed book telling the story of how a Washington murder became the focal point and right wing rally cry for the 2020 election. Andy Kroll has done an amazing job tying all of these disparate pieces into a narrative. A cautionary tale for the times we live in. Must read for anyone in a public office. For no one truly owns their own narrative any more.
September 21, 2022
What a page-turner! I’m not that into the underworld of politics but this book was truly an education. And it is about so much more than politics - it is about a family, a crime, a conspiracy theory gone haywire, the media, and finally the state of our country. Extremely well written.
Read
April 22, 2023Good one for folks who are skeptical of traditional broadcast news and want to tangibly put their fingers on what's wrong about it. Infuriating and fascinating. Wild to see the Trump years in writing like history, but I think it's been long enough to loook back and say...WTF.
September 14, 2022
There is a special place in hell for the conspirators who put Seth's family through this hell. Great read!
October 19, 2022
A great companion to Elizabeth Williamson’s book on Sandy Hook from earlier this year, painting an infuriating portrait of the nightmare that is the post-truth era.
December 25, 2025
Right after reading this book, I read this travelogue The Road to Little Dribbling: Adventures of an American in Britain published in 2015 by Bill Bryson and he makes a comment near the end of the book that he sees his native country, USA, as "has also become spectacularly accommodating to stupidity". How this stupidity has mutated into "conspiracy madness" quite fast based on Andy Kroll's report in this book. If Mr. Bryson could see this stupidity some 10 years ago, I'm fairly sure many sensible people also could.
This book weighs gloomily heavy on my mind. It serves as another elaborate piece of clear evidence of the regrettable prevalence of silly bogus of conspiracy theorists who call themselves "conspiracy researchers". From the detailed accounts provided by the author in this book, these "researchers" do not have any shred of idea what a real researcher is actually like (the author of this book is one great example of such a real and sensible "researcher") in the same way the intelligent design group does not have any fig about evolution. Their behaviors indicate clear sign of their desire for fame and popularity of a fervent type at the expense of those unfortunate ones like the Riches. Although this deplorable trend appears around the world, USA is where its concentration and intensity reach the highest heated madness scale as evident from detailed accounts in this book and this book just covers only a shred of the entire landscape of sociopolitical bogus madness in USA.
One key point that the author of this book consciously does not intend to provide is how we sensible people can handle this senseless madness. The legal justice system is definitely not an effective one to rely on as readers will learn from this book. My experience reading many books on cognitive and behavioral science tells me that the legal system needs to evolve and incorporate more scientific facts of this eminent branch of science into its essence, but this can be a pipe dream if sensitivity cannot gain sufficient momentum. USA should look towards South Korea as an exemplary model. Look at the recent case in which the previous South Korean president attempted a failed coup and was brought down by the parliament because the country has a more sensible legal system that provide a more sensible check and balance of power. USA is drowned in its own ideological cesspool because it is too arrogant to accept its own ideological defect! In the entire human history, bright stars of civilization always wither eventually and this will apply to USA sooner rather than later if the sensible momentum never be able to build itself.
I hope the author would try to look at cases of how to revive sociopolitical sensibility and write on it. Perhaps, South Korea is a best place to start.
For another informative book of the same sociopolitical type, I highly suggest this one: Bottoms Up and the Devil Laughs: A Journey Through the Deep State.
This book weighs gloomily heavy on my mind. It serves as another elaborate piece of clear evidence of the regrettable prevalence of silly bogus of conspiracy theorists who call themselves "conspiracy researchers". From the detailed accounts provided by the author in this book, these "researchers" do not have any shred of idea what a real researcher is actually like (the author of this book is one great example of such a real and sensible "researcher") in the same way the intelligent design group does not have any fig about evolution. Their behaviors indicate clear sign of their desire for fame and popularity of a fervent type at the expense of those unfortunate ones like the Riches. Although this deplorable trend appears around the world, USA is where its concentration and intensity reach the highest heated madness scale as evident from detailed accounts in this book and this book just covers only a shred of the entire landscape of sociopolitical bogus madness in USA.
One key point that the author of this book consciously does not intend to provide is how we sensible people can handle this senseless madness. The legal justice system is definitely not an effective one to rely on as readers will learn from this book. My experience reading many books on cognitive and behavioral science tells me that the legal system needs to evolve and incorporate more scientific facts of this eminent branch of science into its essence, but this can be a pipe dream if sensitivity cannot gain sufficient momentum. USA should look towards South Korea as an exemplary model. Look at the recent case in which the previous South Korean president attempted a failed coup and was brought down by the parliament because the country has a more sensible legal system that provide a more sensible check and balance of power. USA is drowned in its own ideological cesspool because it is too arrogant to accept its own ideological defect! In the entire human history, bright stars of civilization always wither eventually and this will apply to USA sooner rather than later if the sensible momentum never be able to build itself.
I hope the author would try to look at cases of how to revive sociopolitical sensibility and write on it. Perhaps, South Korea is a best place to start.
For another informative book of the same sociopolitical type, I highly suggest this one: Bottoms Up and the Devil Laughs: A Journey Through the Deep State.
January 10, 2023
This book will likely appeal to you if you are curious about politics and the conspiracy theories that caused Hillary Clinton to lose the 2016 election for president. Seth Rich was a young man who worked at the DNC, and he was murdered one evening in Washington DC. The death was presumed a botched robbery as there were several robberies that year in Seth's neighborhood. The book details how this young man's death was used by Fox News and the Republicans to help alleviate the situation happening with the investigation into Russian meddling in the election. The idea was to deflect the attention from that investigation to a story being conjured up about Seth being the person who leaked the Podesta emails from the DNC. The book also shares much of the Rich family's experience, and how this news story that refused to die affected them.
Read
March 27, 2023Seth Rich was a Nebraska boy with a love for democracy and making a positive difference in the world. After college he made his way to DC. Shortly after he began working for the DNC, he was out with friends until the wee hours of the morning. As he walked home, inebriated, he was shot. Tragically, he died shortly thereafter at age 27. After his death, things got surreal. Author Andy Kroll knew Seth from the same social circles and when the tragic unsolved murder started going viral, Kroll's investigative journalist antennae activated. Kroll outlines the DC police's attempts to solve the murder, the Rich famiy's attempts to encourage a resolution followed by months and years of horrendous unsubstantiated theories propagated by various wing nuts (my phrase) and made viral by FOX News and others. Kroll's account is interesting and disturbing and I sure hope the truth comes to light soon.
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