They Knew How a Culture of Conspiracy Keeps America Complacent
Ratings6
Average rating4.3
15
Ratings6
Average rating4.3
In They Knew, New York Times bestselling author Sarah Kendzior explores the United States’ “culture of conspiracy,” putting forth a timely and unflinching argument: uncritical faith in broken institutions is as dangerous as false narratives peddled by propagandists. Conspiracy theories are on the rise because officials refuse to enforce accountability for real conspiracies. “The pathos of truth-seeking left me thinking of Herman Melville. I can't remember the last time I read a book where every sentence delivered."—Timothy Snyder 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—like the Jeffrey Epstein operation—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. In Kendzior’s signature whip smart prose and eviscerating arguments, They Knew unearths decades of buried American history, providing an essential and critical look at how to rebuild our democracy by confronting the political lies and crimes that have shaped us.
Reviews with the most likes.
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.
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.
