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They Knew: How a Culture of Conspiracy Keeps America Complacent
FINALIST FOR THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE
“Every sentence delivered. The pathos of truth-seeking left me thinking of Herman Melville."
—Timothy Snyder, #1 New York Times bestselling author of On Tyranny
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING author Sarah Kendzior delves into the difference between conspiracy and conspiracy theory, "deftly separat[ing] fact from fiction in a conspiracy-addled nation" (VANITY FAIR).
Conspiracy theories are on the rise because officials refuse to enforce accountability for real conspiracies. Uncritical faith in broken institutions is as dangerous as false narratives peddled by propagandists.
The truth may hurt—but the lies will kill us.
They Knew discusses conspiracy culture in a rapidly declining United States struggling with corruption, climate change, and other crises. As the actions of the powerful remain shrouded in mystery—“From Norman Baker to Jeffrey Epstein, Iran-Contra to January 6" (VF)—it is unsurprising that people turn to conspiracy theories to fill the informational void. They Knew exposes the tactics these powerful actors use to placate an inquisitive public.
Here, for the first time, Kendzior blends her signature whip-smart prose and eviscerating arguments with lyrical and intimate examinations of the times and places that haunt American history. "America is a ghost story," writes Kendzior, as she unearths decades of buried history, providing an essential and critical look at how to rebuild our democracy by confronting the political lies and crimes that have shaped us.
“Every sentence delivered. The pathos of truth-seeking left me thinking of Herman Melville."
—Timothy Snyder, #1 New York Times bestselling author of On Tyranny
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING author Sarah Kendzior delves into the difference between conspiracy and conspiracy theory, "deftly separat[ing] fact from fiction in a conspiracy-addled nation" (VANITY FAIR).
Conspiracy theories are on the rise because officials refuse to enforce accountability for real conspiracies. Uncritical faith in broken institutions is as dangerous as false narratives peddled by propagandists.
The truth may hurt—but the lies will kill us.
They Knew discusses conspiracy culture in a rapidly declining United States struggling with corruption, climate change, and other crises. As the actions of the powerful remain shrouded in mystery—“From Norman Baker to Jeffrey Epstein, Iran-Contra to January 6" (VF)—it is unsurprising that people turn to conspiracy theories to fill the informational void. They Knew exposes the tactics these powerful actors use to placate an inquisitive public.
Here, for the first time, Kendzior blends her signature whip-smart prose and eviscerating arguments with lyrical and intimate examinations of the times and places that haunt American history. "America is a ghost story," writes Kendzior, as she unearths decades of buried history, providing an essential and critical look at how to rebuild our democracy by confronting the political lies and crimes that have shaped us.
245 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 13, 2022
491 people are currently reading
8589 people want to read
About the author
Sarah Kendzior
6 books621 followersSarah Kendzior is the New York Times bestselling author of They Knew, Hiding in Plain Sight, The View from Flyover Country, and The Last American Road Trip.
She has a PhD in anthropology from Washington University in St Louis, where she researched politics and digital media in authoritarian states of the former Soviet Union. From 2012 to 2014, she wrote op-eds for Al Jazeera English, and from 2016 to 2020, she wrote op-eds for The Globe and Mail. She has a newsletter (https://sarahkendzior.substack.com/) and lives in St. Louis with her husband and children.
She has a PhD in anthropology from Washington University in St Louis, where she researched politics and digital media in authoritarian states of the former Soviet Union. From 2012 to 2014, she wrote op-eds for Al Jazeera English, and from 2016 to 2020, she wrote op-eds for The Globe and Mail. She has a newsletter (https://sarahkendzior.substack.com/) and lives in St. Louis with her husband and children.
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September 8, 2022
Sarah Kendzior never met a conditional tense she has any use for, it seems. Throughout They Knew, she never uses them. Readers will never come in contact with a would, should or could, a might or a may. There is no speculation, no competing theories, no hearing “from the other side.” Everything is clear and definite to her. The only appearance of the word would comes in her recap of what she predicted before Trump was sworn in. She accurately foresaw the dismantling of government and democracy, and the invasion of the thugs, oligarchs and Mafiosi associated with Trump. (They actually live in Trump Tower, she points out.) It makes the book enormously powerful, clear-headed and convincing. There is no waffling; America has been sold to the lowest bidder for the highest profit.
The book begins with a big lie – no not that one. It is the story of an Arkansas criminal named Norman Baker who operated a renowned cancer clinic a hundred years ago. He vacuumed up the life savings of the dying, pretending he had a cure for them. He invented his own liquid medicine he mixed, built a sanatorium where he stored his victims, and hired aggressive lawyers to fight off all challenges. He kept lying, and it kept working. The bigger the lie, the more Americans accepted it. Applying this lesson to today, Kendzior says “truth (is) an increasingly worthless currency in the land of the conned and complicit.” That sets the tone for a litany of betrayals every reader will relate to. They Knew will touch everyone.
Kendzior explains some of the tools used by the rich and powerful in new terms. For example, critical race theory (CRT). There is no theory in CRT. But a lot of American school systems are banning the teaching of CRT because of that word. CRT adds relevant racial dimensions to American history. To forbid its teaching is to forbid history, a perfect goal for a school system. But couching the ban in terms of race theory, gives CRT the appearance of fiction and not fact, making it okay and even desirable to ban. It is a fraud, but constantly repeating it has made it a common and accepted truth. In America, you can poison anything by calling it a theory.
This is a standard ploy, called conditioning. If you say something often enough, people get used to it, even if it is totally outrageous. No one knows this better than Donald Trump. People soon begin to accept it, because everyone is talking about it. And when the awful and expected results appear, those people are then ready to say it was inevitable. There was just no way to stop it, they agree. It’s how America got the war in Iraq, climate change denial, and of course the stolen election of 2020, which polls show continues to increase in belief. Still, two years later.
Conditioning is also seen in elected representatives totally ignoring the voters. They vote money to their friends. They shield each other from legal harm. They grandstand for popular issues they have no intention of allowing to see the light of day. They enrich themselves mightily along the way. And none of it has the blessing of the people who put them in power. “They know how infiltration becomes impunity and then immunity,” she says in another of her particular ways of looking at the world. Persistence pays.
Kendzior has a terminology problem. She has an issue with conspiracy theories. Because while most recognize conspiracy theories as wild and idiotic, Kendzior has a theory, and it happens to incorporate a global conspiracy. Clearly she does not want to be lumped in with the Pizzagate people, the blood libel people, the 2000 mules people and the climate change deniers. So she spends a lot of time explaining the differences between conspiracies and conspiracy theories. It’s the weakest part of the otherwise powerhouse book she has written.
Her theory comes out of the stories in this book. She has lots of investigative stories to tell, and a lot of the same names keep popping up. Ultimately, she cannot deny the obvious – this is no coincidence. She calls out Trump as leading a transnational crime syndicate, aiding Russian criminals and having them fund his organizations. She names names, gives examples, and shows the threats, both to democracy and to the USA itself. She says these criminals are perfectly willing to split up the USA and sell the pieces for their own profit. The country is just merchandise. Its people are just worthless. Anything that doesn’t produce huge windfalls in the short term is not worth bothering with. Healthcare, environment and such are clear examples to her. “All conspiracy theories are debatable, except one: the American government will absolutely leave its citizens to die,” she comes to realize in another dramatic insight.
She likens her research discoveries to a gigantic octopus. Its tentacles reach into every sector. It compromises everyone it comes in contact with. It connects the billionaires, oligarchs, generals, diplomats, politicians, gangsters, murderers and thieves. No one can escape its suckers, and it will ultimately destroy society and severely cripple the earth. For Kendzior, the octopus is the ultimate conspiracy, and she thinks of it as verifiable fact, not theory.
The book is peppered with ugly stories of people who attempt to understand what is actually going on, and end up dead – by sudden, unanticipated suicide, the courts always seem to rule. My favorite is the man who blew his brains out – twice. Then there’s the man who hanged himself from a tree – with his hands tied behind his back. Clearly suicide. This was demonstrated again more recently by the alleged suicide of Jeffrey Epstein, whose potential plea deal with prosecutors could have linked hundreds of politicians and diplomats to a sex and pedophile network he ran with Ghislaine Maxwell, a very well connected family itself. Any such deal could simply not be risked. To Kendzior, it is also proof that the media don’t simply grab headlines and run with the story for fame and profit. The Epstein story was minimized and dropped as soon as he died, denying the public any conclusion at all. In other words, they knew. They are all complicit, from the foreign media barons running the US press to the extraordinarily wealthy (civil service) diplomats who rape their countries (The leadership of the DRCongo recently proclaimed (July 2022) it is not there to protect the environment. Everything is for sale for the right deal).
It is also the logic behind the USA’s seeming inability to convict or even charge elites with crimes. That Donald Trump is still flying around, raking in hundreds of millions of dollars for his “charity”, rather than defending himself in numerous trials for sedition, tax evasion, emoluments, and sex crimes, is testament enough. And it is nothing new. Not one banker paid the price for the global Financial Crisis of 2008. Intel Corp. has extorted tens of billions from the government by threatening to build new semiconductor plants elsewhere. Trump’s cabinet famously sought to dismantle their portfolios rather than manage them, despite their sworn oaths. Global criminals like Henry Kissinger are awarded the Nobel Prize – for Peace.
It is clear to Kendzior that elected officials have a real master to attend to, and it is not the voting public: “Elected officials no longer attempt to win you over, they attempt to rewrite laws and district boundaries so that your vote is irrelevant. Their true constituency is the criminal elite.” It is sadly refreshing to see it put that way.
On the bright side, if there is one: “What does unite Americans, (…) is rage at elite criminal impunity. We may not revolt as one, but we are revolted as one, e pluribus nauseam.”
Kendzior points to Robert Mueller, who refused to consider Trump’s Russian business dealings (financing, the Miss Universe contest of 1988, residency/housing for oligarchs, ….) in his “investigation” pre-impeachment. That he would not nail Trump was a foregone conclusion, as he had done the same thing earlier in another case. It was obvious to people like Kendzior that is why Mueller was chosen in the first place. (When asked in 2008 if the new Financial Crisis would harm the Trump Organization, Eric Trump blurted out No, that all the Trump money comes from Russia, not the USA. For some reason it has never been a factor in any investigation since. I have often wondered why.) Had Mueller followed any of the leads, it would have opened a criminal investigation impossibly wide and deep, the likes of which have never been seen. It would have taken down thousands of top players. Kendzior says “an epidemic of disillusionment and distrust so vast it stretches into paralysis” is the daily state of the nation. The USA is a corrupt crime organization.
How could it be any other way when “Watergate, Iran-Contra, the CIA’s MK Ultra mind control experiments, the aborted 1960s false flag Operation Northwoods, and other US government plots were all, at some point, labeled wild conspiracy theories—until they were investigated and proven real.” She adds that the Republican Party has refashioned itself as an apocalyptic death cult, in yet another customized turn of phrase she flings out regularly.
Overall, Kendzior thinks things have gotten much worse. Since the onset of the pandemic, she says Americans look back at “economic decline, rising autocracy, rampant gun violence, disinformation warfare, climate catastrophes, systemic racism and endemic corruption” as the good old days. Corruption is so widespread and generalized that it is now expected, mentioned in passing, and accepted without consequence. The stories abound, but there is almost never an arrest, a charge, a trial or a conviction. This is the new way in the USA. The transnational octopus of greed and corruption has won.
But I have to say, this can easily be covered by one concept – globalization. The freeing of capital to cross borders with a keystroke at will, combined with realtime communications has enabled the spread of corruption like wildfire. It has upped the potential from the millions of dollars to the billions – a one thousand-fold increase. Twelve to 20 trillion dollars have been hidden in offshore trusts alone. Kendzior does not go there, but this is really a capitalism problem, not an octopus problem.
As a result of the continual decline of government services or even competence, she says “Covid is but a prelude for how states will handle the era of catastrophic climate change.” For the elites, the entire population is disposable. She points to Dr. Fauci, who first mismanaged the emergence of the AIDS epidemic, being put in charge of the even more massive Covid pandemic as typical of uncaring elites running the country into the ground. It is too early to even imagine how badly the country will manage environmental disasters. But all indicators point to new lows.
Possibly worst of all is her concern the country is undergoing conditioning for a breakup. All the talk of civil war, the conversation around how geographic entities play out in a split country – lead her to conclude this is coming and will be considered the inevitable result of the red/blue irreconcilable split.
Kendzior’s gift is perspective. She can see the bigger, far more complex picture where the news media see only unrelated incidents. She is straightforward, clear-thinking and persuasive. She does the original research and is sure of her facts. The only thing missing is how she gets up every morning, knowing this just like “they” do.
David Wineberg
If you liked this review, I invite you to read more in my book The Straight Dope. It’s an essay collection based on my first thousand reviews and what I learned. Right now it’s FREE for Prime members, otherwise — cheap! Reputed to be fascinating and a superfast read. And you already know it is well-written. https://www.amazon.com/Straight-Dope-...
The book begins with a big lie – no not that one. It is the story of an Arkansas criminal named Norman Baker who operated a renowned cancer clinic a hundred years ago. He vacuumed up the life savings of the dying, pretending he had a cure for them. He invented his own liquid medicine he mixed, built a sanatorium where he stored his victims, and hired aggressive lawyers to fight off all challenges. He kept lying, and it kept working. The bigger the lie, the more Americans accepted it. Applying this lesson to today, Kendzior says “truth (is) an increasingly worthless currency in the land of the conned and complicit.” That sets the tone for a litany of betrayals every reader will relate to. They Knew will touch everyone.
Kendzior explains some of the tools used by the rich and powerful in new terms. For example, critical race theory (CRT). There is no theory in CRT. But a lot of American school systems are banning the teaching of CRT because of that word. CRT adds relevant racial dimensions to American history. To forbid its teaching is to forbid history, a perfect goal for a school system. But couching the ban in terms of race theory, gives CRT the appearance of fiction and not fact, making it okay and even desirable to ban. It is a fraud, but constantly repeating it has made it a common and accepted truth. In America, you can poison anything by calling it a theory.
This is a standard ploy, called conditioning. If you say something often enough, people get used to it, even if it is totally outrageous. No one knows this better than Donald Trump. People soon begin to accept it, because everyone is talking about it. And when the awful and expected results appear, those people are then ready to say it was inevitable. There was just no way to stop it, they agree. It’s how America got the war in Iraq, climate change denial, and of course the stolen election of 2020, which polls show continues to increase in belief. Still, two years later.
Conditioning is also seen in elected representatives totally ignoring the voters. They vote money to their friends. They shield each other from legal harm. They grandstand for popular issues they have no intention of allowing to see the light of day. They enrich themselves mightily along the way. And none of it has the blessing of the people who put them in power. “They know how infiltration becomes impunity and then immunity,” she says in another of her particular ways of looking at the world. Persistence pays.
Kendzior has a terminology problem. She has an issue with conspiracy theories. Because while most recognize conspiracy theories as wild and idiotic, Kendzior has a theory, and it happens to incorporate a global conspiracy. Clearly she does not want to be lumped in with the Pizzagate people, the blood libel people, the 2000 mules people and the climate change deniers. So she spends a lot of time explaining the differences between conspiracies and conspiracy theories. It’s the weakest part of the otherwise powerhouse book she has written.
Her theory comes out of the stories in this book. She has lots of investigative stories to tell, and a lot of the same names keep popping up. Ultimately, she cannot deny the obvious – this is no coincidence. She calls out Trump as leading a transnational crime syndicate, aiding Russian criminals and having them fund his organizations. She names names, gives examples, and shows the threats, both to democracy and to the USA itself. She says these criminals are perfectly willing to split up the USA and sell the pieces for their own profit. The country is just merchandise. Its people are just worthless. Anything that doesn’t produce huge windfalls in the short term is not worth bothering with. Healthcare, environment and such are clear examples to her. “All conspiracy theories are debatable, except one: the American government will absolutely leave its citizens to die,” she comes to realize in another dramatic insight.
She likens her research discoveries to a gigantic octopus. Its tentacles reach into every sector. It compromises everyone it comes in contact with. It connects the billionaires, oligarchs, generals, diplomats, politicians, gangsters, murderers and thieves. No one can escape its suckers, and it will ultimately destroy society and severely cripple the earth. For Kendzior, the octopus is the ultimate conspiracy, and she thinks of it as verifiable fact, not theory.
The book is peppered with ugly stories of people who attempt to understand what is actually going on, and end up dead – by sudden, unanticipated suicide, the courts always seem to rule. My favorite is the man who blew his brains out – twice. Then there’s the man who hanged himself from a tree – with his hands tied behind his back. Clearly suicide. This was demonstrated again more recently by the alleged suicide of Jeffrey Epstein, whose potential plea deal with prosecutors could have linked hundreds of politicians and diplomats to a sex and pedophile network he ran with Ghislaine Maxwell, a very well connected family itself. Any such deal could simply not be risked. To Kendzior, it is also proof that the media don’t simply grab headlines and run with the story for fame and profit. The Epstein story was minimized and dropped as soon as he died, denying the public any conclusion at all. In other words, they knew. They are all complicit, from the foreign media barons running the US press to the extraordinarily wealthy (civil service) diplomats who rape their countries (The leadership of the DRCongo recently proclaimed (July 2022) it is not there to protect the environment. Everything is for sale for the right deal).
It is also the logic behind the USA’s seeming inability to convict or even charge elites with crimes. That Donald Trump is still flying around, raking in hundreds of millions of dollars for his “charity”, rather than defending himself in numerous trials for sedition, tax evasion, emoluments, and sex crimes, is testament enough. And it is nothing new. Not one banker paid the price for the global Financial Crisis of 2008. Intel Corp. has extorted tens of billions from the government by threatening to build new semiconductor plants elsewhere. Trump’s cabinet famously sought to dismantle their portfolios rather than manage them, despite their sworn oaths. Global criminals like Henry Kissinger are awarded the Nobel Prize – for Peace.
It is clear to Kendzior that elected officials have a real master to attend to, and it is not the voting public: “Elected officials no longer attempt to win you over, they attempt to rewrite laws and district boundaries so that your vote is irrelevant. Their true constituency is the criminal elite.” It is sadly refreshing to see it put that way.
On the bright side, if there is one: “What does unite Americans, (…) is rage at elite criminal impunity. We may not revolt as one, but we are revolted as one, e pluribus nauseam.”
Kendzior points to Robert Mueller, who refused to consider Trump’s Russian business dealings (financing, the Miss Universe contest of 1988, residency/housing for oligarchs, ….) in his “investigation” pre-impeachment. That he would not nail Trump was a foregone conclusion, as he had done the same thing earlier in another case. It was obvious to people like Kendzior that is why Mueller was chosen in the first place. (When asked in 2008 if the new Financial Crisis would harm the Trump Organization, Eric Trump blurted out No, that all the Trump money comes from Russia, not the USA. For some reason it has never been a factor in any investigation since. I have often wondered why.) Had Mueller followed any of the leads, it would have opened a criminal investigation impossibly wide and deep, the likes of which have never been seen. It would have taken down thousands of top players. Kendzior says “an epidemic of disillusionment and distrust so vast it stretches into paralysis” is the daily state of the nation. The USA is a corrupt crime organization.
How could it be any other way when “Watergate, Iran-Contra, the CIA’s MK Ultra mind control experiments, the aborted 1960s false flag Operation Northwoods, and other US government plots were all, at some point, labeled wild conspiracy theories—until they were investigated and proven real.” She adds that the Republican Party has refashioned itself as an apocalyptic death cult, in yet another customized turn of phrase she flings out regularly.
Overall, Kendzior thinks things have gotten much worse. Since the onset of the pandemic, she says Americans look back at “economic decline, rising autocracy, rampant gun violence, disinformation warfare, climate catastrophes, systemic racism and endemic corruption” as the good old days. Corruption is so widespread and generalized that it is now expected, mentioned in passing, and accepted without consequence. The stories abound, but there is almost never an arrest, a charge, a trial or a conviction. This is the new way in the USA. The transnational octopus of greed and corruption has won.
But I have to say, this can easily be covered by one concept – globalization. The freeing of capital to cross borders with a keystroke at will, combined with realtime communications has enabled the spread of corruption like wildfire. It has upped the potential from the millions of dollars to the billions – a one thousand-fold increase. Twelve to 20 trillion dollars have been hidden in offshore trusts alone. Kendzior does not go there, but this is really a capitalism problem, not an octopus problem.
As a result of the continual decline of government services or even competence, she says “Covid is but a prelude for how states will handle the era of catastrophic climate change.” For the elites, the entire population is disposable. She points to Dr. Fauci, who first mismanaged the emergence of the AIDS epidemic, being put in charge of the even more massive Covid pandemic as typical of uncaring elites running the country into the ground. It is too early to even imagine how badly the country will manage environmental disasters. But all indicators point to new lows.
Possibly worst of all is her concern the country is undergoing conditioning for a breakup. All the talk of civil war, the conversation around how geographic entities play out in a split country – lead her to conclude this is coming and will be considered the inevitable result of the red/blue irreconcilable split.
Kendzior’s gift is perspective. She can see the bigger, far more complex picture where the news media see only unrelated incidents. She is straightforward, clear-thinking and persuasive. She does the original research and is sure of her facts. The only thing missing is how she gets up every morning, knowing this just like “they” do.
David Wineberg
If you liked this review, I invite you to read more in my book The Straight Dope. It’s an essay collection based on my first thousand reviews and what I learned. Right now it’s FREE for Prime members, otherwise — cheap! Reputed to be fascinating and a superfast read. And you already know it is well-written. https://www.amazon.com/Straight-Dope-...
September 29, 2022
She's a great writer, very smart and prescient and I love getting her thoughts on these topics, but this felt like it lacked something to make it cohesive. There's not a lot of exploration around the actual culture itself that makes America such a breeding ground for conspiracy theories or beliefs in conspiracies.
What I really appreciated here was how this made me evaluate Democrats' behavior. In the current political climate I tend to automatically jump to their defense regardless but she very eloquently makes arguments about how they've enabled the culture of conspiracy as well. It forced me to think more critically which is always worthwhile.
What I really appreciated here was how this made me evaluate Democrats' behavior. In the current political climate I tend to automatically jump to their defense regardless but she very eloquently makes arguments about how they've enabled the culture of conspiracy as well. It forced me to think more critically which is always worthwhile.
December 12, 2022
We are screwed.
(Sticking with a three-word review as I did for Sarah Kendzior's other book, Hiding in Plain Sight: The Invention of Donald Trump and the Erosion of America)
(Sticking with a three-word review as I did for Sarah Kendzior's other book, Hiding in Plain Sight: The Invention of Donald Trump and the Erosion of America)
December 13, 2022
I was hoping for something more polished. This comes across as a book written by a podcaster rather than an author. It's chatty, a little scattered, full of breathless adrenaline and hyperbolic words like hellscape, and Kendzior spends way too much time talking about her hometown (St. Louis) and family.
Here is an example of Kendzior's heavy panting: "On August 10, 1963, Estes Kefauver [a senator investigating organized crime] dropped dead at age sixty of a heart attack on the Senate floor - exactly 28 years to the day that Danny Casolaro [a freelance journalist investigating a cabal] was found dead in his hotel, and exactly 56 years to the day that Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in his prison cell."
So we're supposed to take away from this what, precisely? Unfortunately, the statement isn't even accurate. Kefauver didn't drop dead on the Senate floor. He had a mild heart attack there, then died two days later in Bethesda Naval Hospital.
September 23, 2022
2.5 stars, rounded up (because that's how math works).
I honestly feel that the story/reporting taking place in this book is IMPORTANT. I think that readers would to well to heed it, and take the lessons they can moving forward. There needs to be more critical thinking when it comes to what we are imbibing as well as the motives of those who are in power. It's a terrifying truth, but one we need to live with if we are going to change it.
Of course, much of that truth is buried under the author repeatedly crowing that she predicted much of what is happening (which I understand, I really do, but being reminded again, and again, and again, AND AGAIN) makes it feel much more like the author wants to be vindicated rather than drive home the importance of what she wishes to be vindicated against. And throughout much of the book she pushed back against the vilification of those who are "just asking questions," ignoring that, while yes there are many good ppl who are just asking questions, that excuse has also been used by bad faith actors to introduce dangerous and toxic ideas into society, ideas that have gotten people killed.
Overall, I think this book definitely has an important message, but it is bogged down by a ridiculously slow narration (I had to play it at 1.85x speed for it to be tolerable) and an author sometimes more concerned with 'I told you so' and self-congratulation than the truth she tries to drive home.
I honestly feel that the story/reporting taking place in this book is IMPORTANT. I think that readers would to well to heed it, and take the lessons they can moving forward. There needs to be more critical thinking when it comes to what we are imbibing as well as the motives of those who are in power. It's a terrifying truth, but one we need to live with if we are going to change it.
Of course, much of that truth is buried under the author repeatedly crowing that she predicted much of what is happening (which I understand, I really do, but being reminded again, and again, and again, AND AGAIN) makes it feel much more like the author wants to be vindicated rather than drive home the importance of what she wishes to be vindicated against. And throughout much of the book she pushed back against the vilification of those who are "just asking questions," ignoring that, while yes there are many good ppl who are just asking questions, that excuse has also been used by bad faith actors to introduce dangerous and toxic ideas into society, ideas that have gotten people killed.
Overall, I think this book definitely has an important message, but it is bogged down by a ridiculously slow narration (I had to play it at 1.85x speed for it to be tolerable) and an author sometimes more concerned with 'I told you so' and self-congratulation than the truth she tries to drive home.
September 27, 2022
If you read Hiding in Plain Sight, then you should almost certainly read this too. If you somehow missed Kendzior previously, it's a perfectly good place to start, although I'm guessing the whole (content plus delivery) goes down easier, if you're read Hiding in Plain Sight or if you listen to her podcast, Gaslit Nation. I could easily see readers who didn't know what they were getting into being quickly overwhelmed.
I can't say I enjoyed reading this (any more than I enjoy taking medicine). It's not light reading and, frankly, it gave me a headache, it made me angry, it made me (even more) depressed and despondent (than normal). But I'm still glad I read it, and I expect I'll recommend it broadly.
I can't get this riff out of my head: It's better to be thought a lunatic than a liar. A lunatic can be vindicated by time & rebranded a prophet; a liar is a liar by choice. Sounding batshit crazy when relaying the plain facts... is often the mark of an honest broker.
I'm intensely curious to see how the book is perceived in the future.
I can't say I enjoyed reading this (any more than I enjoy taking medicine). It's not light reading and, frankly, it gave me a headache, it made me angry, it made me (even more) depressed and despondent (than normal). But I'm still glad I read it, and I expect I'll recommend it broadly.
I can't get this riff out of my head: It's better to be thought a lunatic than a liar. A lunatic can be vindicated by time & rebranded a prophet; a liar is a liar by choice. Sounding batshit crazy when relaying the plain facts... is often the mark of an honest broker.
I'm intensely curious to see how the book is perceived in the future.
November 26, 2022
I wanted to love this book, as I’ve enjoyed both of Kendzior’s previous works, but this one missed the mark for me. She is obviously very intelligent and a good writer, but there is a fine line between discussing conspiracy and conspiracy theories and falling prey to them, one that she doesn’t always seem to stick to. On more than one occasion throughout this book it appeared that she had fallen down her own rabbit hole. I also expected this to be more about the history of conspiracy theories in our society and a deeper look at the psychology and behaviors that lead to believing them, but that wasn’t really what this was. To be completely honest, I’m not totally sure what this book was actually meant to be, as there was something missing to really tie the whole narrative together. A lot of this book was an info dump of names and crimes with a dash of “I told you so” from Kendzior thrown in every few pages. I think there probably is an important message to be had here, but it got lost and was just a slog to get through.
Thank you to Flatiron Books and NetGalley for the review copy.
Thank you to Flatiron Books and NetGalley for the review copy.
February 13, 2025
DNF @ 26%
I started out really liking the acerbic nature of Kendzior's writing, but it very quickly started grating on me. I think part of that was the fact that she needed to point out, repeatedly, how she had been right about all of her predictions from previous books, and it really had a "You could have all saved yourselves, had you been smart enough to heed my warnings" vibe.
Considering that this was written in 2021, in the first year of the Biden admin, and I am now reading it in 2025, in the first year of Trump's (FML) second presidential term instead of any year of his prison term, yeah, we probably could have and should have saved ourselves, but there's a hell of a lot more to it than that we just didn't listen to one person's dire warnings. Unfortunately, about half of us ignored EVERYONE'S dire warnings.
But that's just one aspect that I was feeling annoyed about. I think majorly, what led me to DNF this was the fact that there just wasn't a clear focus on what this book actually was saying, and the vibe that I got from the things that were said was... not great. I expected more of an academic(ish) look at why conspiracy theories are so appealing to people, and how they are used to manipulate and misdirect.
And I think, buried somewhere, that was here, but it just wasn't really laid out well or coherently. It just kinda seemed all over the place. Even in the first quarter of the book, I lost track of the number of different times her family's travels were mentioned - Oklahoma? Massachusetts? Texas? St. Louis? Where are we? What is the point of this? And as much of this was in relation to Covid (her trips were to make up for missed ones during the 2020 lockdowns, etc), she railed about Covid, and the conflicting, or some may be tempted to more accurately say "developing", info that was being released about it.
Passages like this:
March 8th, 2020. Like... A WEEK into lockdown? And then a month later, he revised his advice based on additional information? The fucking nerve. If I recall correctly, he was concerned about a run on PPE... justifiably so. There was a while there where you couldn't find fucking TOILET PAPER, so if he had told people to start wearing masks, chances are people would have immediately started stockpiling them, meaning that healthcare workers would have had less than they already did.
(For context, here's the video she's referring to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8sHS...
It's about 4 minutes long, and in it, Fauci and Olivia are reading vaccine-related tweets that mention each of them, and responding to them. Fauci comes across, to me, as a slightly out of touch guy who doesn't really understand online culture or memes, but is glad that people are taking advantage of the vaccine availability, and trying to educate further as to how they work and benefits of getting it. Nowhere did he toot his own horn, make anything vaccine-related about himself (aside from literally reading his name in the tweets that the producers likely curated for him), or seem even remotely "self-congratulatory". The only time he even spoke about himself is to tell a short anecdote about his first concert, which led into a self-deprecating comment about how old he is.)
Or this one:
Was Covid handled perfectly? No. NOWHERE handled it perfectly. But what exactly is she accusing Fauci and Biden of here? Being human beings who make mistakes sometimes? (And why does it feel SO hypocritical that she should refer to Fauci as "basking in his own glow"?... Oh right, this whole book so far.)
Then it got into Jeffrey Epstein, and the parallels between his exploits and those of a similar "power broker" man named Craig Spence... and look, that's interesting and all, and I would love to see more accountability for powerful people who do horrific things like they did, but this section made my head hurt. I had to read passages several times. It was just a firehose of different statements, with footnoted references, and there was no clear narrative structure or path to follow. If the point is to "prove" that there was a conspiracy... OKAY? I don't know that anyone is arguing there wasn't one. So... what? What is the point? What are we doing?
I know that probably a lot of my criticisms may be addressed in the book, and I didn't finish reading it. But I also couldn't really justify why I should continue reading it. It was a mess, it was starting to annoy me, it was overly self-congratulatory (while criticizing others for her perception of their being self-congratulatory), and I just felt myself struggling to muster any interest in reading more.
But I fully intended to finish reading this, despite all of that, until she threw this out there:
That was the end of the road for me with this book. Oh well.
I started out really liking the acerbic nature of Kendzior's writing, but it very quickly started grating on me. I think part of that was the fact that she needed to point out, repeatedly, how she had been right about all of her predictions from previous books, and it really had a "You could have all saved yourselves, had you been smart enough to heed my warnings" vibe.
Considering that this was written in 2021, in the first year of the Biden admin, and I am now reading it in 2025, in the first year of Trump's (FML) second presidential term instead of any year of his prison term, yeah, we probably could have and should have saved ourselves, but there's a hell of a lot more to it than that we just didn't listen to one person's dire warnings. Unfortunately, about half of us ignored EVERYONE'S dire warnings.
But that's just one aspect that I was feeling annoyed about. I think majorly, what led me to DNF this was the fact that there just wasn't a clear focus on what this book actually was saying, and the vibe that I got from the things that were said was... not great. I expected more of an academic(ish) look at why conspiracy theories are so appealing to people, and how they are used to manipulate and misdirect.
And I think, buried somewhere, that was here, but it just wasn't really laid out well or coherently. It just kinda seemed all over the place. Even in the first quarter of the book, I lost track of the number of different times her family's travels were mentioned - Oklahoma? Massachusetts? Texas? St. Louis? Where are we? What is the point of this? And as much of this was in relation to Covid (her trips were to make up for missed ones during the 2020 lockdowns, etc), she railed about Covid, and the conflicting, or some may be tempted to more accurately say "developing", info that was being released about it.
Passages like this:
"Birx was joined at press briefings by Dr. Anthony Fauci, who told Americans on March 8, 2020, not to wear masks despite masks being the most effective preventive measure in Asia, then told Americans to wear masks in April as the virus was raging. At the time of this writing, Fauci remains committed to his recitation of incoherent advice and excessive self-praise. Over the summer of 2021, as I looked to the White House for advice on how to protect my children from the delta strain raging in Missouri, I landed instead on a bizarre video of pop star Olivia Rodrigo reading worshipful tweets praising Fauci as he sat next to her, basking in his own glow."
March 8th, 2020. Like... A WEEK into lockdown? And then a month later, he revised his advice based on additional information? The fucking nerve. If I recall correctly, he was concerned about a run on PPE... justifiably so. There was a while there where you couldn't find fucking TOILET PAPER, so if he had told people to start wearing masks, chances are people would have immediately started stockpiling them, meaning that healthcare workers would have had less than they already did.
(For context, here's the video she's referring to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8sHS...
It's about 4 minutes long, and in it, Fauci and Olivia are reading vaccine-related tweets that mention each of them, and responding to them. Fauci comes across, to me, as a slightly out of touch guy who doesn't really understand online culture or memes, but is glad that people are taking advantage of the vaccine availability, and trying to educate further as to how they work and benefits of getting it. Nowhere did he toot his own horn, make anything vaccine-related about himself (aside from literally reading his name in the tweets that the producers likely curated for him), or seem even remotely "self-congratulatory". The only time he even spoke about himself is to tell a short anecdote about his first concert, which led into a self-deprecating comment about how old he is.)
Or this one:
"Then there was the gaslighting. In July 2021, President Biden told Americans that vaccinated people cannot spread covid as his vaccinated White House staffers announced that they had been infected anyway. This is an ongoing pattern. We see disaster coming with our own eyes, but the people who are tasked to stop it do not see us, not enough to find us worthy of the truth."Sigh. She calls out Fauci and Biden here by name and specific criticism, but only vaguely, obliquely, refers to the anti-mask and anti-vax politicization from Trump and his administration, which, I mean if I'm going to just go out on a limb here, I would say caused a HELL OF A LOT MORE HARM than Biden's misunderstanding or misspeaking or mistake - whatever you want to charitably call it. I do not think that it was a lie, or gaslighting. What would be the purpose?
Was Covid handled perfectly? No. NOWHERE handled it perfectly. But what exactly is she accusing Fauci and Biden of here? Being human beings who make mistakes sometimes? (And why does it feel SO hypocritical that she should refer to Fauci as "basking in his own glow"?... Oh right, this whole book so far.)
Then it got into Jeffrey Epstein, and the parallels between his exploits and those of a similar "power broker" man named Craig Spence... and look, that's interesting and all, and I would love to see more accountability for powerful people who do horrific things like they did, but this section made my head hurt. I had to read passages several times. It was just a firehose of different statements, with footnoted references, and there was no clear narrative structure or path to follow. If the point is to "prove" that there was a conspiracy... OKAY? I don't know that anyone is arguing there wasn't one. So... what? What is the point? What are we doing?
I know that probably a lot of my criticisms may be addressed in the book, and I didn't finish reading it. But I also couldn't really justify why I should continue reading it. It was a mess, it was starting to annoy me, it was overly self-congratulatory (while criticizing others for her perception of their being self-congratulatory), and I just felt myself struggling to muster any interest in reading more.
But I fully intended to finish reading this, despite all of that, until she threw this out there:
"That “They’re just asking questions” has become a mocking dismissal of people who are often truly just asking questions shows how deeply questions are feared—and how the caricature of the conspiracy theorist has been weaponized by those seeking to protect a corrupt status quo at all costs."Oh do tell us more about how "just asking questions" isn't also used disingenuously by some people who have huge platforms from which to spread conspiracy theories and lies. Exhibit A(sshole):
That was the end of the road for me with this book. Oh well.
January 18, 2024
This book was very engaging and offers a lot of interesting tidbits but I'm not entirely sure it actually delivered on its title. It certainly did a great job of asking us to rethink our preconceptions about Missouri and of establishing that the era of accountability was the anomaly though.
While it wasn't really the intent of the book, it did a pretty good job of explaining why Israel enjoys so much impunity.
When my mother was still with us we used to refer to her as a conspiracy theorist, not in the dismissive or pejorative way we would call someone that today but in a loving way because she was endlessly curious and thinking about what was going behind the scene which often lead her to embrace the idea that there were conspirations all around (a lot of the conspirations she saw are now common knowledge). Why am I telling you about my mom? Because I found the way Kendzior talks about the conspiracy theorists of today to be very humane and refreshing, it's easy to dismiss people as crackpots but it's important to recognize that the impulse which led them down that path is often (but not always) the same which would lead us to pick up a book such as this one.
As per usual, I didn't know about the author's podcast and wasn't familiar with her work prior to reading this book (the only podcasts I actually listen to are Welcome to Night Vale and Well There's Your Problem so yeah I do say that about every podcaster book) so my review is based solely on the book.
While it wasn't really the intent of the book, it did a pretty good job of explaining why Israel enjoys so much impunity.
When my mother was still with us we used to refer to her as a conspiracy theorist, not in the dismissive or pejorative way we would call someone that today but in a loving way because she was endlessly curious and thinking about what was going behind the scene which often lead her to embrace the idea that there were conspirations all around (a lot of the conspirations she saw are now common knowledge). Why am I telling you about my mom? Because I found the way Kendzior talks about the conspiracy theorists of today to be very humane and refreshing, it's easy to dismiss people as crackpots but it's important to recognize that the impulse which led them down that path is often (but not always) the same which would lead us to pick up a book such as this one.
As per usual, I didn't know about the author's podcast and wasn't familiar with her work prior to reading this book (the only podcasts I actually listen to are Welcome to Night Vale and Well There's Your Problem so yeah I do say that about every podcaster book) so my review is based solely on the book.
December 1, 2022
Which of the following is likely true and not a conspiracy theory?
- Mass shootings like Sandy Hook are false flag operations using crisis actors as a way to disarm the populace so they can be more easily controlled?
- The moon landing was faked?
- The Covid epidemic was either a Chinese bioweapon or a an attempt by nefarious cabals to inject us with mind-controlling computer chips in the vaccine?
- The world is controlled by a cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles who kill children and eat them to extend their own lives?
- Climate change denial is being financed by secretive oil companies intent on keeping the world hooked on carbon emissions that are rapidly warming the planet?
If you guessed the last one, there's hope for you yet. But inside of every conspiracy theory is always a tiny grain of truth- someone, somewhere is trying to pull something over on the rest of us. When bad things happen, we often turn to easy explanations and bad guys to blame, in order to help us feel some semblance of control over our lives. If the world is controlled by shadowy groups of evil, powerful characters, then it makes sense to latch onto conspiracy theories that unite an opposition as a defense mechanism. The problem is that there really are rich and powerful villains that don't have our interests at heart, and by falling into the fake conspiracy theories, we're letting the real bad guys off the hook.
They Knew is a book by Sarah Kendzior that talks about conspiracies, both fake and real, and how the fake ones are often propagated by those who want to distract us from the real crimes happening behind the scenes. The author is a journalist and podcast host who has been traveling down the rabbit holes ever since the emergence of Donald Trump. This is her third book, tying together scandals that she reported on in her first two books- Hiding in Plain Sight and The View From Flyover Country.
This book is a passionate wake-up call for a weary nation that is struggling to find out who it can and can't trust. According to Kendzior, the rise of globalization and multi-billionaires has led to stateless groups of rich criminals who use their money and influence to buy politicians, rig legal systems, and intimidate the news media to get their way. These people don't need the US or any country, and the author believes that their ultimate goal is to break up the United States into smaller pieces that can be controlled more easily. Who are they, and what did they know? The author doesn't point to any one specific group, but she does name a lot of names, most of whom knew secrets that they'd rather not tell us.
Kendzior devotes a lot of time in this book and others to the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. Epstein was a monster who lured underage girls to his private island and offered them to the rich and powerful. Did he use this as leverage against those he worked with? Who exactly were Epstein's clients? We'll never know, because he mysteriously died in prison under suspicious circumstances shortly after his arrest. But before his arrest and death, he was treated with kid gloves by the Justice Department, which makes you wonder. Thirty years before Epstein came on the scene, another man, Craig Spence, also boasted of linking celebrities, politicians and sex partners, only to die mysteriously in 1989. None of Epstein's clients has ever been indicted, and only his partner, Ghislain Maxwell, seems likely to see any jail time.
Was 9/11 an inside job? Many conspiracists believe that it was, without any solid proof. They Knew instead points to the many odd things that happened before and after 9/11 that prove the government dropped the ball and then tried to exploit the tragedy. There were many warnings about Al Queda preparing for an attack that went unheeded. Just months before the attack a television show depicted a hijacked airplane aimed at the World Trade Center, so protests of "who could have imagined such a thing?" ring hollow for the Bush Administration. Even worse, they capitalized on that tragedy to lead Americans to believe that Saddam Hussein was somehow involved to justify a disastrous and unnecessary war in Iraq. As I write this, the government has just released a 17-year old account of a meeting between Bush and the 9/11 commission in which he lies about the nature of the warnings that he was given before that tragedy. Was he incompetent? Or was he secretly hoping for an attack so that he could profit from the inevitable jump in popularity and national urgency that would allow him to get re-elected while plunging the nation into another war?
Was January 6th preventable? The evidence shows that Donald Trump and many others were planning something on that fateful day, and again the government was unprepared. In the aftermath of those attacks on the US Capitol, only the gullible foot soldiers have faced any kind of consequences, while Trump and his helpers still have yet to see any sort of rebuke. His disinformation campaign, which has faced little pushback in the media, has succeeded in raising serious doubts about the true winner of the 2020 presidential election, even though all evidence points to Trump losing. And it almost worked! But now, much of the tweets and evidence from that period is slowly disappearing as people try to get the country to move on and forget about it (even with televised hearings). Inconvenient facts are hidden in memory holes that try to change history, and our faulty brains easily forget things, especially those things we'd rather not think about.
Kendzior points to Normalcy Bias as a cognitive defect that keeps us from acting when bad actors like Trump enter the scene. This bias goes hand in hand with the Just World Fallacy and Savior Syndrome in believing that if something happens and nobody stops it, it must be okay. God, or the media, or the justice system would act if something irresponsible and destructive might happen, and if they don't then things will be probably be okay. The Holocaust is one example where that didn't happen on its own, and climate change is another one. Sitting by passively and hoping that things work out is what the people behind these conspiracies hope will happen. They know that our default is to trust authorities, even when they lie to us.
The book is not all gloom and doom, though it certainly comes close. There have been times in history when people stood up and demanded accountability from their leaders. Two examples the author points to are the 1950's when the Kefauver commission looked at organized crime in America and put the Mafia on trial. Then in the 1970's the Church committee looked at corruption inside the US government, especially within the CIA. That, added to the pushback from the Vietnam failures and Watergate scandal led to one of the most accountable times in US politics.
Much of that reform has been rolled back by the Reagan and later administrations, and the 2011 Citizens United Supreme Court Case opened the flood gates to dark money in US politics. Also, the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989 may have ridded the world of a communist threat, but it also unleashed the might of Russian oligarchs, powered by oil money, who have propped up Donald Trump and meddled in things all over the world. Saudi Arabia is another villain from this book, and the lack of pushback after most of the 9/11 hijackers came from there is concerning.
The book discusses something called preemptive narrative inversion, which is why conspiracy theories help the rich and powerful. Instead of pointing fingers at the real crimes, these manufactured stories accuse those who are trying to enforce accountability instead. Pizzagate is one example. Political operatives opposed to Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign for president spread the story that she was at the center of a child sex ring being run out of a Washington DC pizza parlor. This was a narrative inversion because her opponent, Donald Trump, had actually been accused of having sex with a 14-year old girl through Jeffrey Epstein connections. This kind of preemptive strategy muddies the waters and confuses voters so that they don't know who they can trust.
This is a disturbing book, and not an easy read. It's hard to think about a world in which bad actors do bad things, and there's not much we can do about it sometimes. It's much easier to digest comfortable stories that reassure us that things are basically okay. That's never been the world we've lived in- there have always been dangers, some of them existential. We ignore them at our own risk. Kendzior ends the book with a plea for all of us to demand the truth- from politicians, from corporations, from the media, and from each other. We can't keep settling for feel-good conspiracy theories that hold us blameless and tie everything up in a neat little package.
The truth is sometimes confusing and uncomfortable, but would you rather live a comfortable lie or a messy truth? Truth wins out, every time. You just need to balance it out once in a while with love, kindness, humor, and a knowledge that things can get better and we deserve better.
(from my blog at www.authordanconnors.com)
- Mass shootings like Sandy Hook are false flag operations using crisis actors as a way to disarm the populace so they can be more easily controlled?
- The moon landing was faked?
- The Covid epidemic was either a Chinese bioweapon or a an attempt by nefarious cabals to inject us with mind-controlling computer chips in the vaccine?
- The world is controlled by a cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles who kill children and eat them to extend their own lives?
- Climate change denial is being financed by secretive oil companies intent on keeping the world hooked on carbon emissions that are rapidly warming the planet?
If you guessed the last one, there's hope for you yet. But inside of every conspiracy theory is always a tiny grain of truth- someone, somewhere is trying to pull something over on the rest of us. When bad things happen, we often turn to easy explanations and bad guys to blame, in order to help us feel some semblance of control over our lives. If the world is controlled by shadowy groups of evil, powerful characters, then it makes sense to latch onto conspiracy theories that unite an opposition as a defense mechanism. The problem is that there really are rich and powerful villains that don't have our interests at heart, and by falling into the fake conspiracy theories, we're letting the real bad guys off the hook.
They Knew is a book by Sarah Kendzior that talks about conspiracies, both fake and real, and how the fake ones are often propagated by those who want to distract us from the real crimes happening behind the scenes. The author is a journalist and podcast host who has been traveling down the rabbit holes ever since the emergence of Donald Trump. This is her third book, tying together scandals that she reported on in her first two books- Hiding in Plain Sight and The View From Flyover Country.
This book is a passionate wake-up call for a weary nation that is struggling to find out who it can and can't trust. According to Kendzior, the rise of globalization and multi-billionaires has led to stateless groups of rich criminals who use their money and influence to buy politicians, rig legal systems, and intimidate the news media to get their way. These people don't need the US or any country, and the author believes that their ultimate goal is to break up the United States into smaller pieces that can be controlled more easily. Who are they, and what did they know? The author doesn't point to any one specific group, but she does name a lot of names, most of whom knew secrets that they'd rather not tell us.
Kendzior devotes a lot of time in this book and others to the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. Epstein was a monster who lured underage girls to his private island and offered them to the rich and powerful. Did he use this as leverage against those he worked with? Who exactly were Epstein's clients? We'll never know, because he mysteriously died in prison under suspicious circumstances shortly after his arrest. But before his arrest and death, he was treated with kid gloves by the Justice Department, which makes you wonder. Thirty years before Epstein came on the scene, another man, Craig Spence, also boasted of linking celebrities, politicians and sex partners, only to die mysteriously in 1989. None of Epstein's clients has ever been indicted, and only his partner, Ghislain Maxwell, seems likely to see any jail time.
Was 9/11 an inside job? Many conspiracists believe that it was, without any solid proof. They Knew instead points to the many odd things that happened before and after 9/11 that prove the government dropped the ball and then tried to exploit the tragedy. There were many warnings about Al Queda preparing for an attack that went unheeded. Just months before the attack a television show depicted a hijacked airplane aimed at the World Trade Center, so protests of "who could have imagined such a thing?" ring hollow for the Bush Administration. Even worse, they capitalized on that tragedy to lead Americans to believe that Saddam Hussein was somehow involved to justify a disastrous and unnecessary war in Iraq. As I write this, the government has just released a 17-year old account of a meeting between Bush and the 9/11 commission in which he lies about the nature of the warnings that he was given before that tragedy. Was he incompetent? Or was he secretly hoping for an attack so that he could profit from the inevitable jump in popularity and national urgency that would allow him to get re-elected while plunging the nation into another war?
Was January 6th preventable? The evidence shows that Donald Trump and many others were planning something on that fateful day, and again the government was unprepared. In the aftermath of those attacks on the US Capitol, only the gullible foot soldiers have faced any kind of consequences, while Trump and his helpers still have yet to see any sort of rebuke. His disinformation campaign, which has faced little pushback in the media, has succeeded in raising serious doubts about the true winner of the 2020 presidential election, even though all evidence points to Trump losing. And it almost worked! But now, much of the tweets and evidence from that period is slowly disappearing as people try to get the country to move on and forget about it (even with televised hearings). Inconvenient facts are hidden in memory holes that try to change history, and our faulty brains easily forget things, especially those things we'd rather not think about.
Kendzior points to Normalcy Bias as a cognitive defect that keeps us from acting when bad actors like Trump enter the scene. This bias goes hand in hand with the Just World Fallacy and Savior Syndrome in believing that if something happens and nobody stops it, it must be okay. God, or the media, or the justice system would act if something irresponsible and destructive might happen, and if they don't then things will be probably be okay. The Holocaust is one example where that didn't happen on its own, and climate change is another one. Sitting by passively and hoping that things work out is what the people behind these conspiracies hope will happen. They know that our default is to trust authorities, even when they lie to us.
The book is not all gloom and doom, though it certainly comes close. There have been times in history when people stood up and demanded accountability from their leaders. Two examples the author points to are the 1950's when the Kefauver commission looked at organized crime in America and put the Mafia on trial. Then in the 1970's the Church committee looked at corruption inside the US government, especially within the CIA. That, added to the pushback from the Vietnam failures and Watergate scandal led to one of the most accountable times in US politics.
Much of that reform has been rolled back by the Reagan and later administrations, and the 2011 Citizens United Supreme Court Case opened the flood gates to dark money in US politics. Also, the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989 may have ridded the world of a communist threat, but it also unleashed the might of Russian oligarchs, powered by oil money, who have propped up Donald Trump and meddled in things all over the world. Saudi Arabia is another villain from this book, and the lack of pushback after most of the 9/11 hijackers came from there is concerning.
The book discusses something called preemptive narrative inversion, which is why conspiracy theories help the rich and powerful. Instead of pointing fingers at the real crimes, these manufactured stories accuse those who are trying to enforce accountability instead. Pizzagate is one example. Political operatives opposed to Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign for president spread the story that she was at the center of a child sex ring being run out of a Washington DC pizza parlor. This was a narrative inversion because her opponent, Donald Trump, had actually been accused of having sex with a 14-year old girl through Jeffrey Epstein connections. This kind of preemptive strategy muddies the waters and confuses voters so that they don't know who they can trust.
This is a disturbing book, and not an easy read. It's hard to think about a world in which bad actors do bad things, and there's not much we can do about it sometimes. It's much easier to digest comfortable stories that reassure us that things are basically okay. That's never been the world we've lived in- there have always been dangers, some of them existential. We ignore them at our own risk. Kendzior ends the book with a plea for all of us to demand the truth- from politicians, from corporations, from the media, and from each other. We can't keep settling for feel-good conspiracy theories that hold us blameless and tie everything up in a neat little package.
The truth is sometimes confusing and uncomfortable, but would you rather live a comfortable lie or a messy truth? Truth wins out, every time. You just need to balance it out once in a while with love, kindness, humor, and a knowledge that things can get better and we deserve better.
(from my blog at www.authordanconnors.com)
June 17, 2023
There were very few aspects of this book I actually liked. Really the deception starts right on the cover with the tagline How a Culture of Conspiracy Keeps America Complacent. This is not, in fact, how a culture of conspiracy keeps America complacent, as there is little to no rumination on how we got to where we are today. There were haphazardly placed stories missing important details, and I don’t know if I misunderstood the point the book was trying to make based on the cover and blurb, but I thought this would be a real analysis on the harmful lies that are being spread across the country and widely accepted as truth. In fact, it was the author complaining about covid, claiming that she’s predicted everything that happened in the past 8 years, and talking way too much about St. Louis. I am not from St. Louis and I don’t feel the need to reflect on “my childhood” there. Really this feels like half ranting blog post and half diary entry to show to a therapist. I wish there was a better way for me to put my thoughts about this book into words without sounding like a right wing freak but I swear it just wasn’t put together well. Out of curiosity I picked up a similar book (the big lie by dan pfeiffer) and already I am getting what I wanted from this. He is a credible source on the subject in every way this author is not. I can’t get behind saying that QAnon was kind of good which is a take this author kind of made? Nothing in this book really made sense to me, since very few of the arguments ever rounded out with a thesis. Anyway.
May 28, 2025
How countries go broke by ray dalio is coming out June.3 and
Just finishing after I get my injection. I am following books way better than the day before.
They Knew: How a Culture of Conspiracy Keeps America
Complacent by Sarah Kendzior
And
How to Win an Information War:
The Propagandist
Who Outwitted
Hitler
Peter Pomerantsev
Are two books 📕 that should be read back to back
Peter pomegrantsev and Sarah Kendra write how complacent and propaganda is.
Fuite du point ou point du fuite
Cela ou ceca
Ligne du fuite ou fuite du ligne
Most people don’t have time to fact check or look up news or paywall news with there professionalism and work, and busy lifestyle
The déjà vu news, the paywall facts the free-floating lies the absence of official accountability
Is the erosion of history it’s the loss of collective memory, including the digital collective memory that had come to augment and even the supplant citizen consent.
Since the advent of the Internet, In 2021 the USA is the first time in world history to memory hold a coup .
It’s unprecedented for democracy to face a physical attack for organized wealth seditionist and foreign operatives to nullify unintended legitimate election
And decide never to prevent it from happening again a failed coup is a dress rehearsal for the real thing.
-Sarah Kendzior
Sarah book is a must read as soon as possible, if recommended it with Peter Pomeranstev who writes lots on propaganda. If anything these two books are close on my favorite book—->Propaganda the formation of men’s attitudes by Jacque Ellul
I think it’s an interesting topic, and how Burnie Sanders says we have to get pay wall news to be as available as free floating lies.
And local news is disappearing….
You’ll agree this book is needed.
They knew….
America is purple like a bruise…..
Just finishing after I get my injection. I am following books way better than the day before.
They Knew: How a Culture of Conspiracy Keeps America
Complacent by Sarah Kendzior
And
How to Win an Information War:
The Propagandist
Who Outwitted
Hitler
Peter Pomerantsev
Are two books 📕 that should be read back to back
Peter pomegrantsev and Sarah Kendra write how complacent and propaganda is.
Fuite du point ou point du fuite
Cela ou ceca
Ligne du fuite ou fuite du ligne
Most people don’t have time to fact check or look up news or paywall news with there professionalism and work, and busy lifestyle
The déjà vu news, the paywall facts the free-floating lies the absence of official accountability
Is the erosion of history it’s the loss of collective memory, including the digital collective memory that had come to augment and even the supplant citizen consent.
Since the advent of the Internet, In 2021 the USA is the first time in world history to memory hold a coup .
It’s unprecedented for democracy to face a physical attack for organized wealth seditionist and foreign operatives to nullify unintended legitimate election
And decide never to prevent it from happening again a failed coup is a dress rehearsal for the real thing.
-Sarah Kendzior
Sarah book is a must read as soon as possible, if recommended it with Peter Pomeranstev who writes lots on propaganda. If anything these two books are close on my favorite book—->Propaganda the formation of men’s attitudes by Jacque Ellul
I think it’s an interesting topic, and how Burnie Sanders says we have to get pay wall news to be as available as free floating lies.
And local news is disappearing….
You’ll agree this book is needed.
They knew….
America is purple like a bruise…..
July 11, 2024
This book is everything right now. Anyone who rated this a year ago might want to revisit it as Kendzior has been incredibly prescient about what's occurred in 2024.
This book isn't pro Democrat or pro Republican, it's pro-democracy, and anti-the powerful agents of tyranny and chaos.
This book isn't pro Democrat or pro Republican, it's pro-democracy, and anti-the powerful agents of tyranny and chaos.
July 5, 2024
On one hand, I think Kendzior makes a valuable point that is as seldom remarked as it is glaringly obvious: the reason that so many Americans are willing to believe conspiracy theories is that there is so much actual conspiracy that is clearly going on in the everyday operation of our economic and political life. Without better answers, it's not surprising that people turn to speculation. Likewise, she makes a great argument in dismissing as laughable "tinfoil-hat wearers"all people who ask questions about shady events where it's obvious information is being withheld the powerful are able to mask the very real endemic corruption within our government and that this "tin-foil hat wearers" wrap is often mobilized specifically to distract from this reality (for instance, she makes a compelling case for the use of the fake QAnon theory as a distraction from Epstein's very real human trafficking minus adrenochrome)
On the other hand, this book needed some additional editing. As written, this book could have been half its size. I would have found it even more persuasive had it had far more facts about the global kleptocracy and far fewer hyperbolic generalizations that create strawmen out of her opponents' arguments (I'm sorry but despite the red vs blue state talk, I think it's generally understood that we really mean cities vs countryside. Not an insight there), overwrought memoir strangely focused on Missouri as if we are all supposed to immediately recognize the distinct and unique importance of St. Louis, and quasi-messianic "I-told-you-so-ing" from Kendzior herself. I also found myself getting kind of uncomfortable with the Israel connection she kept making without exactly explaining why Israel was so key in her story. This is not because I unabashedly support Israel. It's rather because she is trying to prove to us, compellingly enough, that there really *is* a conspiracy, but then seems to play into all the tropes to say - 'guys there really is an international criminal organization of plutocratic capitalists who want to cull the herd and you'll never guess where we find that common link!" At one point in the book, she tries to explain, I believe, the Israel connection through the apocalyptic fatalism of evangelical plutocrats, but to me, the elite's supposed wish to kill everyone off, to me, sets uneasily with the idea of continual growth as the fount of economic profit (think Elon Musk and his natalist anxieties). Moreover, her most damning quote in this regard is from Pelosi, who surely cannot be doing this to bring in Biblical prophecies. I guess what I'm worried here is that Kendzior seems to be unwittingly playing into conspiratorial tropes, without, in this case, giving us better explanations (which definitely could be given, probably with a more sustained discussion of the petro-economy, but are not). I think this oversight revealed something she needed to do more generally. Sure, we as Americans do probably generally share a hatred of elites. But there's also anti-Semitism, and sexism, and racism, and a pervasive if often unarticulated resentment about the loss of white privilege that undergirds a lot of rightwing conspiracy belief. To pretend this is all just about everyday Americans who want to hold elites accountable and have been piped fake conspiracy theories by bad agents seeking to deflect anger is too simplistic.
On the other hand, this book needed some additional editing. As written, this book could have been half its size. I would have found it even more persuasive had it had far more facts about the global kleptocracy and far fewer hyperbolic generalizations that create strawmen out of her opponents' arguments (I'm sorry but despite the red vs blue state talk, I think it's generally understood that we really mean cities vs countryside. Not an insight there), overwrought memoir strangely focused on Missouri as if we are all supposed to immediately recognize the distinct and unique importance of St. Louis, and quasi-messianic "I-told-you-so-ing" from Kendzior herself. I also found myself getting kind of uncomfortable with the Israel connection she kept making without exactly explaining why Israel was so key in her story. This is not because I unabashedly support Israel. It's rather because she is trying to prove to us, compellingly enough, that there really *is* a conspiracy, but then seems to play into all the tropes to say - 'guys there really is an international criminal organization of plutocratic capitalists who want to cull the herd and you'll never guess where we find that common link!" At one point in the book, she tries to explain, I believe, the Israel connection through the apocalyptic fatalism of evangelical plutocrats, but to me, the elite's supposed wish to kill everyone off, to me, sets uneasily with the idea of continual growth as the fount of economic profit (think Elon Musk and his natalist anxieties). Moreover, her most damning quote in this regard is from Pelosi, who surely cannot be doing this to bring in Biblical prophecies. I guess what I'm worried here is that Kendzior seems to be unwittingly playing into conspiratorial tropes, without, in this case, giving us better explanations (which definitely could be given, probably with a more sustained discussion of the petro-economy, but are not). I think this oversight revealed something she needed to do more generally. Sure, we as Americans do probably generally share a hatred of elites. But there's also anti-Semitism, and sexism, and racism, and a pervasive if often unarticulated resentment about the loss of white privilege that undergirds a lot of rightwing conspiracy belief. To pretend this is all just about everyday Americans who want to hold elites accountable and have been piped fake conspiracy theories by bad agents seeking to deflect anger is too simplistic.
May 5, 2022
***They Knew by Sarah Kendzior purports to tell the truth about conspiracy versus conspiracy theories. It’s obvious that the author has done a lot of research, and while she defines herself as an independent she most definitely is a Never Trumper. Within her flowing prose she certainly has adopted the Democrats view of Mr. Trump as the devil incarnate, a shyster, a Mafia don, a totally unfeeling lowlife fraud. This reader was amazed at how Ms. Kendzior managed to tie President Trump to most every “scandal” she highlighted…all involving Republicans. She obviously wrote this book before the truth about Hillary Clinton’s role in the Steele dossier and the revelations in Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop. Quoting the author, “The GOP has been hijacked by a transnational crime syndicate masquerading as a government.” Regarding the Democrats, they don’t push prosecution hard enough. She has no respect for Reagan or Bush either. Democrats will rejoice in this book as some of their prime players only are slightly criticized. I am reminded of a book Bob Schieffer wrote called “The Acting President,” in which he claimed Reagan never had an original thought in his life and was controlled by what was put on his cue cards. This was, of course, written before the discovery of the multitude of boxes holding yellow legal pads filled with Reagan’s handwritten thoughts and rough drafts of speeches and monologues beginning years before he became President and continuing after. This 81 year old reader and political junky understands and recognizes propaganda even when it is presented as truth to correct the record. I agree that we have lost Lincoln’s concept “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” Those who fashion themselves as “elites” have assumed control and their goal is to maintain it by whatever means they can…legally or otherwise. I highly recommend Victor Davis Hansen’s “The Dying Citizen” to anyone who wants to know how we lost control of our relationship with our elected officials on both sides. There are a lot of interesting events covered in this book to chew on. I just wish the author had been more even handed in her analysis. I voluntarily reviewed an advance copy of this book from NetGalley.
November 15, 2022
This is only the second nonfiction book I’ve finished this November but I feel like finally I’m not in a deep reading slump and able to feel very interested in picking up a book and continuing with it. I also had a feeling I couldn’t go wrong with this one coz I remember really liking the author’s previous work, Hiding in Plain Sight.
What remains common among the two books is how equally anger inducing they both are, but it’s expected. The way levers of corruption turn in this country and how the same elite corrupt players are protecting each other, and how these people span politics, media, billionaires, business and more leaves you feeling angry yes, but also helpless because what is a common layperson supposed to do when up against such a behemoth. The staggering amount of corruption that exists and goes on with impunity, with the backing of an unimaginable amount of money and power will only leave us pessimistic.
I like how the author isn’t given to speculations. She only states what she knows to be true, cites her sources for everything she mentions and gives her conclusions. There’s no extra sensationalism here, because the truth itself is unbelievable in some ways, but also inevitable in others. The writing was a bit meandering at times, interspersed with her own personal experiences, as well as her feelings about the decline of her home Missouri; and maybe this book doesn’t tell us all that much we don’t already know because most of this corruption and coverup is happening quite openly these days - but it’s still important to see that someone (and the author in this case) is willing to openly talk about and challenge all that’s happening.
Between conspiracies and theories, plots and truth - the author tells us a tale we know but asks us not to get dejected, never lose our pursuit for truth, and never stop questioning.
What remains common among the two books is how equally anger inducing they both are, but it’s expected. The way levers of corruption turn in this country and how the same elite corrupt players are protecting each other, and how these people span politics, media, billionaires, business and more leaves you feeling angry yes, but also helpless because what is a common layperson supposed to do when up against such a behemoth. The staggering amount of corruption that exists and goes on with impunity, with the backing of an unimaginable amount of money and power will only leave us pessimistic.
I like how the author isn’t given to speculations. She only states what she knows to be true, cites her sources for everything she mentions and gives her conclusions. There’s no extra sensationalism here, because the truth itself is unbelievable in some ways, but also inevitable in others. The writing was a bit meandering at times, interspersed with her own personal experiences, as well as her feelings about the decline of her home Missouri; and maybe this book doesn’t tell us all that much we don’t already know because most of this corruption and coverup is happening quite openly these days - but it’s still important to see that someone (and the author in this case) is willing to openly talk about and challenge all that’s happening.
Between conspiracies and theories, plots and truth - the author tells us a tale we know but asks us not to get dejected, never lose our pursuit for truth, and never stop questioning.
December 2, 2022
DNF'd at like 100 pages in. Most of this you know if you consume any news besides the big mainstream channels. Mostly her tone and writing style is annoying the shit out of me.
June 18, 2023
DNF
I don't read many political books; my dose of masochism (paying attention to politics of course) is met onlin. I decided to change that up by borrowing They Knew from my library, and I'm glad I didn't buy it. I wanted a book about conspiracy theory origins and how they affect the political landscape but got nothing near that.
Kendzior seemed to have written those for those that weren't paying attention to politics or don't care about politics beyond "Trump bad" or "democrats vs republicans." For someone who followed American politics during the Trump administration, you'll only be reading a recap of everything you already know.
Otherwise, this book serves as a pretentious opus dedicated to herself. She often cuts herself off in the middle of one topic to explain how she knew about these terrible transgressions that politicians would commit, but no one listened to her. This is a 210-page long "I told you so."
I have to give it to Kendzior though. She successfully managed to compare and contrast a conspiracy and a conspiracy theory in multiple ways, equate Trump to a serial killer (lol), and tell me she's one of the very few journalists who do their job.
Her gripes are understandable, but she distracts herself from fully fleshing out her thoughts.
I don't read many political books; my dose of masochism (paying attention to politics of course) is met onlin. I decided to change that up by borrowing They Knew from my library, and I'm glad I didn't buy it. I wanted a book about conspiracy theory origins and how they affect the political landscape but got nothing near that.
Kendzior seemed to have written those for those that weren't paying attention to politics or don't care about politics beyond "Trump bad" or "democrats vs republicans." For someone who followed American politics during the Trump administration, you'll only be reading a recap of everything you already know.
Otherwise, this book serves as a pretentious opus dedicated to herself. She often cuts herself off in the middle of one topic to explain how she knew about these terrible transgressions that politicians would commit, but no one listened to her. This is a 210-page long "I told you so."
I have to give it to Kendzior though. She successfully managed to compare and contrast a conspiracy and a conspiracy theory in multiple ways, equate Trump to a serial killer (lol), and tell me she's one of the very few journalists who do their job.
Her gripes are understandable, but she distracts herself from fully fleshing out her thoughts.
May 13, 2025
could be more blood. anyway, smth always irks me about white authors calling living minority peoples as collateral damage who are "ghosts on the moral landscape of america" (paraphrasing sentiments here). i think what she fails to contend with is shes fallen into the very trap she alleges to have evaded in relation to the "cult of intelligence."
a lot of people know the government is corrupt. there is no moral conscience of the powerful/wealthy elite. people in cross sections of identities have been aware--and acutely a victim of--that lack of conscientiousness. and to memorialize the very people currently working against these structural and institutional obstacles as ghosts is entirely misleading. as if their contributions were phantom fixes.
the last sentence of this work is essentially the author giving the audience a dramatic camera angle zoom in where she breaks the fourth wall and smirks like she did smth impressive. "knowing." welcome to the non exclusive club i guess?
a lot of people know the government is corrupt. there is no moral conscience of the powerful/wealthy elite. people in cross sections of identities have been aware--and acutely a victim of--that lack of conscientiousness. and to memorialize the very people currently working against these structural and institutional obstacles as ghosts is entirely misleading. as if their contributions were phantom fixes.
the last sentence of this work is essentially the author giving the audience a dramatic camera angle zoom in where she breaks the fourth wall and smirks like she did smth impressive. "knowing." welcome to the non exclusive club i guess?
November 15, 2022
Sarah Kendzior is the Stephen King of political non fiction.
Like him she is deeply moral and fundamentally compassionate.
Also she writes magnificently so it’s a pleasure to read her even when she shines a light on the darkest things. And she does.
If you feel exhausted by the news of the last six years, the insight and clarity she brings here cut through the fog of partisanship and deception like few people can—and that is weirdly a balm in our times.
Also there’s surprising nuance to learn about conspiracy theories, and much understanding about actual conspiring. Try the first chapter and see for yourself.
IN-DIS-PEN-SA-BLE.
Like him she is deeply moral and fundamentally compassionate.
Also she writes magnificently so it’s a pleasure to read her even when she shines a light on the darkest things. And she does.
If you feel exhausted by the news of the last six years, the insight and clarity she brings here cut through the fog of partisanship and deception like few people can—and that is weirdly a balm in our times.
Also there’s surprising nuance to learn about conspiracy theories, and much understanding about actual conspiring. Try the first chapter and see for yourself.
IN-DIS-PEN-SA-BLE.
April 14, 2023
Kendzior's book is a roundabout exploration of conspiracies as wide-ranging as 9/11, Jeffrey Epstein and pedophilia, January 6, Anthony Fauci's long career, the FBI and what they choose to prosecute. The range is exhausting because it's scattered and unfocused. I thought it could've been organized better instead of getting paragraphs about one subject, moving on to another subject, and then relitigating the previous subject. Another aspect of this book is the author's tone and voice. This very much has the energy of "I know better than you," which got irritating (she actually says things like "I told you so"). I get being angry at the state of things; how the media and government appear in cahoots at times. But I didn't jive with the audiobook. I think her arguments are more emotional and passionate and I wished for a more even-keeled and sober delivery.
abandoned
November 8, 2022I like ranty books as much as anyone, but there still needs to be content to said rant.
For a better explanation of American obsession with conspiracies, with less rant and more fun, I suggest "Fantasyland" by Kurt Andersen.
For a better explanation of American obsession with conspiracies, with less rant and more fun, I suggest "Fantasyland" by Kurt Andersen.
January 5, 2024
I may marinate on this and move it to a 5 Star. Banger!
February 19, 2023
complicated but terrifying
November 6, 2022
With the stories in this book about those who have died mysteriously after exposing the elite wealthy criminals of the world, I'm actually worried for this author, too.
October 5, 2022
It's hard to try not to fall into the line feeling like you are a conspiracy theorist and know when to sit back and watch things unfold without screaming, but since 2016 and discovering Sarah's work, I find it hard not to say "I told you so" to every naysayer I've encountered. Sarah and her fellow authoritarian scholars have been sounding warnings for years that have gone unheeded. It's easy to find yourself being called a conspiracy theorist when sounding off all of these alarms but Sarah has the receipts to back it up. My only disappointment was that the book was too short and the use of the word 'elite' thrown around too much.
*I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for my review*
*I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for my review*
February 6, 2023
This was a bit of a letdown after Kendzior’s prior works. Rather than presenting new information, much of this is a mix of rehashing things we already know, “I told you so”, and “we’re screwed”.
November 6, 2025
To write a book about conspiracy theories, conspiracy culture, and their impact on America and only mention anti-semitism once in a throw away line seems not only negligent to me but dangerous. There were a lot of really interesting arguments in this book about the reality of power, secrecy, and truth in America and yet the entire time I felt like there was a huge omission that devalued those arguments. To discuss Qanon, fascism, McCarthyism and not bring race or ethnicity into it seems like you don’t understand where these beliefs come from or who they serve and impact. This is not to mention the understanding of fascism as state based rather than race based. The constant discussion of “they” and “the elites” leaves room for individual assumptions about who the “they” is that will likely be impacted by the individuals personal biases. “They” can be subbed out for Jews, immigrants, communists, you name it. By trying to discuss conspiracy history in America and not immediately confronting their racist and antisemitic origins you’re allowing readers to bring racist antisemetic assumptions with them along the journey. I do wonder how much of this omission was oversight and how much was intentional.
January 12, 2025
You are entitled to truth from government as a basic covenant of citizenship. There is no justice without accountability, and there is no accountability without the truth. Insisting that the corruption we witness be acknowledged is never an empty gesture.
Reading this book the week that Trump was sentenced to "unconditional release," meaning that he will not spend a minute in jail or pay a single dollar as a fine, meaning that he will not be on probation, under house arrest, meaning that he didn't even have to show up to the courtroom for his sentencing, such as it was, after being convicted of 34 felonies, was awful synchronistic.
Reading this book the week that Trump was sentenced to "unconditional release," meaning that he will not spend a minute in jail or pay a single dollar as a fine, meaning that he will not be on probation, under house arrest, meaning that he didn't even have to show up to the courtroom for his sentencing, such as it was, after being convicted of 34 felonies, was awful synchronistic.
October 3, 2022
With as much as I read, somehow Sarah Kendzior books haven’t been on my radar, but after reading this book, I’m an instant fan. This book is about all the real conspiracies and corruption among the powerful, like the wealthy elites and politicians. Aside from being a phenomenal writer, what makes Sarah’s book unique is that she doesn’t come from a partisan angle. She goes after both the left and the right and discusses how they cover up and even publicly discuss corruption that’s affecting all of us.
There were many stories in the book that I was familiar with, such as all of Donald Trump’s corruption, the shadiness of everyone associated with Jeffrey Epstein and much more. Although I was familiar with these stories, Sarah discusses how all of these actual conspiracies are able to be covered up because the powerful know how many insane, baseless conspiracies are out there. When journalists try to expose real conspiracies, the powerful can easily brush them off as being on the same level as QAnon or flat earthers.
If you’re aware of these stories as well, I still think this book is worth the read. I learned some new details, and as mentioned, Sarah’s a fantastic writer and also offers a unique angle and insight.
There were many stories in the book that I was familiar with, such as all of Donald Trump’s corruption, the shadiness of everyone associated with Jeffrey Epstein and much more. Although I was familiar with these stories, Sarah discusses how all of these actual conspiracies are able to be covered up because the powerful know how many insane, baseless conspiracies are out there. When journalists try to expose real conspiracies, the powerful can easily brush them off as being on the same level as QAnon or flat earthers.
If you’re aware of these stories as well, I still think this book is worth the read. I learned some new details, and as mentioned, Sarah’s a fantastic writer and also offers a unique angle and insight.
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