The Russian international media outlet Russia Today (RT) has been widely accused in the Western world of producing government propaganda and conspiracy theories. This book explores for the first time the role that conspiracy theories actually play in the network's broadcasts. More than this, it provides the first ever study of how the Russian government engages with conspiracy theories in the international arena, with a particular focus on the use of conspiracy theories as an instrument of public diplomacy. RT was established in 2005 to represent Russia to the world, and to present a Russian perspective on global events. Whilst some of RT's more overtly conspiratorial output has been taken off the air, the network remains a source of significant concern for governments and intelligence agencies in Europe and North America. Now, more than ever, policymakers, journalists, academics, and intelligence services alike seek to understand the role RT plays in the Russian government's foreign policy agenda. The authors use RT as a case study to investigate how global communication technologies influence the development and dissemination of conspiracy theories, which are also an important component of the post-Soviet Russian intellectual landscape and Kremlin-sponsored political discourse. This book will appeal to students and scholars of Politics and International Relations, Russian Studies, and Conspiracy Theories.

Conspiracy theories are no longer just a curiosity for afficionados but a politically salient theme in the age of Trump, Brexit and "fake news". One of the countries that has been entrapped in conspiratorial visions is Turkey, and this book is the first comprehensive survey in English of the Turkish conspiratorial mind-set. It provides a nuanced overview of the discourses of Turkish conspiracy theorists and examines how these theorists argue for and legitimize their worldview. The author discusses a broad range of conspiracy theories, including some influenced by Kemalist and Islamist perspectives as well as those of the ruling Justice and Development Party. The most influential authors, books, references and images within the conspiracist milieu are all examined in detail. This book will be an important source for scholars interested in extremism in Turkey and the societal and political impact of conspiracy theories.

Political assassinations and terrorism have both outraged and fascinated the public throughout American history, particularly in the modern era. Providing biographical summaries of more than 100 assassins and terrorists, this book aims at a more complete understanding of the motivations behind violent extremism. The lives of the subjects are analyzed with a focus on psychological and ideological factors, along with details of investigations and criminal trials. Conspiracy theories are evaluated for credibility. Social media features prominently in explaining political violence by members of extremist groups in the 21st century, including radical Islamic terrorists, anti-abortion activists and white supremacists.

In this compelling whodunnit, Elaine Dewar reads the science, follows the money, and connects the geopolitical interests to the spin. When the first TV newscast described a SARS-like flu affecting a distant Chinese metropolis, investigative journalist Elaine Dewar started asking questions: Was SARS-CoV-2 something that came from nature, as leading scientists insisted, or did it come from a lab, and what role might controversial experiments have played in its development? Why was Wuhan the pandemic's ground zero-and why, on the other side of the Atlantic, had two researchers been marched out of a lab in Winnipeg by the RCMP? Why were governments so slow to respond to the emerging pandemic, and why, now, is the government of China refusing to cooperate with the World Health Organization? And who, or what, is DRASTIC? Locked down in Toronto with the world at a standstill, Dewar pored over newspapers and magazines, preprints and peer-reviewed journals, email chains and blacked-out responses to access to information requests; she conducted Zoom interviews and called telephone numbers until someone answered as she hunted down the truth of the virus's origin. In this compelling whodunnit, she reads the science, follows the money, connects the geopolitical interests to the spin-and shows how leading science journals got it wrong, leaving it to interested citizens and junior scientists to pull out the truth.

As the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) spread around the world, so did theories, stories, and conspiracy beliefs about it. These theories infected communities from the halls of Congress to Facebook groups, spreading quickly in newspapers, on various social media and between friends. They spurred debate about the origins, treatment options and responses to the virus, creating distrust towards public health workers and suspicion of vaccines. This book examines the most popular Covid-19 theories, connecting current conspiracy beliefs to long-standing fears and urban legends. By examining the vehicles and mechanisms of Covid-19 conspiracy, readers can better understand how theories spread and how to respond to misinformation.

Strategic Conspiracy Narratives proposes an innovative semiotic perspective for analysing how contemporary conspiracy theories are used for shaping interpretation paths and identities of a targeted audience. Conspiracy theories play a significant role in the viral spread of misinformation that has an impact on the formation of public opinion about certain topics. They allow the connecting of different events that have taken place in various times and places and involve several actors that seem incompatible to bystanders. This book focuses on strategic-function conspiracy narratives in the context of (social) media and information conflict. It explicates the strategic devices in how conspiracy theories can be used to evoke a hermeneutics of suspicion - a permanent scepticism and questioning of so-called mainstream media channels and dominant public authorities, delegitimisation of political opponents, and the ongoing search for hidden clues and coverups. The success of strategic dissemination of conspiracy narratives depends on the cultural context, specifics of the targeted audience and the semiotic construction of the message. This book proposes an innovative semiotic perspective for analysing contemporary strategic communication. The authors develop a theoretical framework that is based on semiotics of culture, the notions of strategic narrative and transmedia storytelling. This book is targeted to specialists and graduate students working on social theory, semiotics, journalism, strategic communication, social media and contemporary social problems in general.

Conspiracy theory and American foreign policy examines the relationship between secrecy, power and interpretation around international controversy, where foreign policy orthodoxy comes up hard against alternative interpretations. It does so in the context of US foreign policy during the War on Terror, a conflict that was covert and conspiratorial to its core. Offering a new dimension to debates on post-truth politics, this book critically examines the 'Arab-Muslim paranoia narrative': the view that Arab-Muslim resentment towards America is motivated to some degree by a paranoid perception of American power in the Middle East. This narrative is traced from its roots in a post-War liberal understanding of populism through to foreign policy debates about the origins of 9/11, to the strategic heart of the Bush Administration's War of Ideas. Balancing conceptual innovation with detailed case analysis, Aistrope provides a window into the ideological commitments of the US War on Terror. Offering a fascinating insight into conspiracy and paranoia, this book is essential reading for those interested in the relationship between secrecy, power, and contemporary politics. -- .

In Antisemitic Conspiracy Theories in the Early Modern Iberian World: Narratives of Fear and Hatred, Francois Soyer offers the first detailed historical analysis of antisemitic conspiracy theories in Spain, Portugal and their overseas colonies between 1450 and 1750. These conspiracy theories accused Jews and conversos, the descendants of medieval Jewish converts to Christianity, of deadly plots and blamed them for a range of social, religious, military and economic problems. Ultimately, many Iberian antisemitic conspiracy theorists aimed to create a 'moral panic' about the converso presence in Iberian society, thereby justifying the legitimacy of ethnic discrimination within the Church and society. Moreover, they were also exploited by some churchmen seeking to impose an idealized sense of communal identity upon the lay faithful.

The files of the CIA, the FBI, the FAA, NASA, the Army, Navy, Air Force and other U.S. government agencies all have documents relating to UFOs, UFO investigations and UFO activities that have affected their operations. The Government UFO Files by Kevin D. Randle looks at the suppressed evidence, the hidden plots, cover-ups, misleading statements and documented connections to government intrigue. The Government UFO Files sorts through the information, sources and files to help develop a fuller picture of government activities.

Do prophecies fail? A small group led by spirit mediums, infiltrated by social scientists, and reported on at intervals by the press: Together, these different parties create a sequence of mutual misunderstandings that leads both to a series of missed appointments with flying saucers from distant planets and to success in averting a global catastrophe.This volume proposes a re-reading of Leon Festinger's classic work on cognitive dissonance, offering a different account of the motivations and meanings of a group expecting the arrival of spacemen from another planet and anticipating the End of the World, and incorporating the social scientists who studied them into the picture.The author explores the relations between anthropology and psychology and between social scientific and natural scientific accounts of human behaviour, contributing to ideas about the role of science in contemporary society and to the sociology of secrecy..

Thoroughly investigated by a former Army officer and taken from his review of hundreds of historical and government documents and inperson interviews, this book chronicles more than 100 sightings, events, and discoveries of alien encounters, government conspiracy, and the influence of extraterrestrials on human events throughout history. From prehistoric UFO sightings, cave paintings, and ancient astronauts to modern sightings around the world, this book investigates claims of aliens living among us, abductions of humans to alien spacecraft, and accounts of interstellar cooperation since the UFO crash in Roswell, along with evidence of what the government knows and what it has covered up. This discussion of the government secrets, theories, and mysteries surrounding aliens is packed with thoughtprovoking stories and shocking revelations of alien involvement in the lives of Earthlings.

The second edition of this popular text, updated throughout and now including Covid-19 and the 2020 presidential election and aftermath, introduces students to the research into conspiracy theories and the people who propagate and believe them. In doing so, Uscinski and Enders address the psychological, sociological, and political sources of conspiracy theorizing. They rigorously analyze the most current arguments and evidence while providing numerous real-world examples so students can contextualize the current debates. Each chapter addresses important current questions, provides conceptual tools, defines important terms, and introduces the appropriate methods of analysis.

Are conspiracy theories everywhere and is everyone a conspiracy theorist? This ground-breaking study challenges some of the widely shared assessments in the scholarship about a perceived mainstreaming of conspiracy theory. It claims that conspiracy theory underwent a significant shift in status in the mid-20th century and has since then become highly visible as an object of concern in public debates. Providing an in-depth analysis of academic and media discourses, Katharina Thalmann is the first scholar to systematically trace the history and process of the delegitimization of conspiracy theory. By reading a wide range of conspiracist accounts about three central events in American history from the 1950s to 1970s - the Great Red Scare, the Kennedy assassination, and the Watergate scandal - Thalmann shows that a veritable conspiracist subculture emerged in the 1970s as conspiracy theories were pushed out of the legitimate marketplace of ideas and conspiracy theory became a commodity not unlike pornography: alluring in its illegitimacy, commonsensical, and highly profitable. This will be of interest to scholars and researchers interested in American history, culture and subcultures, as well, of course, to those fascinated by conspiracies.

Over the past half century, opinion has been divided as to the role of Lee Harvey Oswald in the assassination of President John F Kennedy. The rumours began to spread almost immediately that the accused assassin may have been working for or was being manipulated by individuals involved with the United States Intelligence apparatus. The most tantalising piece of evidence came from none other than Congressman Gerald R Ford, who had served as a Warren Commission member in 1964. Ford revealed in his (co-written) 1965 book "Oswald: Portrait of the Assassin" that the FBI had an 'undercover agent' in Dallas at the time of the assassination and that that agent was none other than Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged assassin of President Kennedy. The two most asked questions in the whole JFK assassination story remain unanswered: Who was Lee Harvey Oswald and what was his role on 22 November 1963? In this book Glenn B Fleming looks at these claims and presents a compelling case that all is not as we have been told about accussed assassin Lee Harvey Oswald.

The Men in Black were elevated to superstar status in 1997 in the hit movie of the same name. Although the Hollywood blockbuster was fiction, the real Men in Black have consistently attempted to silence the witnesses of UFO and paranormal phenomena since the 1950s.
In "The Real Men in Black," author Nick Redfern delves deep into the mysterious world of these mysterious operatives. He reveals their origins and discusses classic cases, previously unknown reports, secret government files, and the many theories that have been presented to explain the mystery.
Highlights of "The Real Men in Black" include:

-The story of Albert Bender, the first man to claim an encounter with the Men in Black

-The involvement of the MIB in the Mothman saga that dominated the town of Point Pleasant, West Virginia in the 1960s

-Encounters with the MIB at the site of one of the world's most famous monsters: Loch Ness

-Exclusive interviews with leading researchers of the MIB phenomenon

Why did the third World Trade Center building (WTC7) collapse on September 11th , even though it was not struck by any aircraft? Why did Princess Diana's "drunk" driver look sober as he climbed into the car minutes before their deadly accident? Could a slender birch tree really have caused the plane crash which killed the President of Poland in 2010? 'Conspiracy thinking' - the search for explanations of significant global events in clandestine plots, suppressed knowledge and the secret actions of elite groups - provides simple and logical answers to the social doubts and uncertainties that occur at times of major national and international crises. Contemporary social psychology seeks to explain the human motivation to create, share and receive conspiracy theories, and to shed light on the consequences of these theories for people's social and political functioning. This important collection, written by leading researchers in the field, is the first to apply quantitative empirical findings to the subject of conspiracy theorizing. The first section of the book explores conspiracy theories in the context of group perception and intergroup relations, paying particular attention to anti-Semitic conspiracy stereotypes. It then goes on to examine the relationship between an individual's political ideology and the degree to which they engage in 'conspiracy thinking'. The concluding part of the book considers the explanatory power of conspiracy, focusing on the link between social paranoia and digital media, and highlighting the social, political, and environmental consequences of conspiracy theories. The Psychology of Conspiracy will be of great interest to academics and researchers in social and political psychology, and a valuable resource to those in the fields of social policy, anthropology, political science, and cultural studies.

Why did the third World Trade Center building (WTC7) collapse on September 11th , even though it was not struck by any aircraft? Why did Princess Diana's "drunk" driver look sober as he climbed into the car minutes before their deadly accident? Could a slender birch tree really have caused the plane crash which killed the President of Poland in 2010? 'Conspiracy thinking' - the search for explanations of significant global events in clandestine plots, suppressed knowledge and the secret actions of elite groups - provides simple and logical answers to the social doubts and uncertainties that occur at times of major national and international crises. Contemporary social psychology seeks to explain the human motivation to create, share and receive conspiracy theories, and to shed light on the consequences of these theories for people's social and political functioning. This important collection, written by leading researchers in the field, is the first to apply quantitative empirical findings to the subject of conspiracy theorizing. The first section of the book explores conspiracy theories in the context of group perception and intergroup relations, paying particular attention to anti-Semitic conspiracy stereotypes. It then goes on to examine the relationship between an individual's political ideology and the degree to which they engage in 'conspiracy thinking'. The concluding part of the book considers the explanatory power of conspiracy, focusing on the link between social paranoia and digital media, and highlighting the social, political, and environmental consequences of conspiracy theories. The Psychology of Conspiracy will be of great interest to academics and researchers in social and political psychology, and a valuable resource to those in the fields of social policy, anthropology, political science, and cultural studies.

'My favourite author has done it again. Numbers Don't Lie is by far his most accessible book to date, and I highly recommend it to anyone who is curious about the world. I unabashedly recommend this book to anyone who loves learning' Bill Gates Is flying dangerous? How much do the world's cows weigh? And what makes people happy? From Earth's nations and inhabitants, through the fuels and foods that energize them, to the transportation and inventions of our modern world - and how all of this affects the planet itself - in Numbers Don't Lie, Professor Vaclav Smil takes us on a fact-finding adventure, using surprising statistics and illuminating graphs to challenge lazy thinking. Smil is on a mission to make facts matter, because after all, numbers may not lie, but which truth do they convey? 'Smil's title says it all: to understand the world, you need to follow the trendlines, not the headlines. This is a compelling, fascinating, and most important, realistic portrait of the world and where it's going' Steven Pinker 'The best book to read to better understand our world. It should be on every bookshelf!' Linda Yueh 'There is perhaps no other academic who paints pictures with numbers like Smil' Guardian Vaclav Smil is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Manitoba. He is the author of over forty books on topics including energy, environmental and population change, food production and nutrition, technical innovation, risk assessment and public policy. No other living scientist has had more books (on a wide variety of topics) reviewed in Nature. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, in 2010 he was named by Foreign Policy as one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers. This is his first book for a more general readership.

'The most gripping and satisfying thriller I've read in more than a decade' Sophie Hannah 'One of the best legal thrillers ... as elegant and gripping as Scott Turow's Presumed Innocent' Daily Mail 'Quite the tour de force! Twelve Angry Men meets Chinatown and creates something of its own' Sarah Pinborough 'This is a tense, emotionally charged, scary-good, stand-out read' Caroline Kepnes ********** MAJOR TV SERIES COMING SOON - FROM THE PEOPLE WHO BROUGHT YOU NETFLIX'S UNBELIEVABLE... One juror changed the verdict. What if she was wrong? 'Ten years ago we made a decision together...' Fifteen-year-old Jessica Silver, heiress to a billion-dollar fortune, vanishes on her way home from school. Her teacher, Bobby Nock, is the prime suspect. It's an open and shut case for the prosecution, and a quick conviction seems all but guaranteed. Until Maya Seale, a young woman on the jury, persuades the rest of the jurors to vote not guilty: a controversial decision that will change all of their lives forever. Ten years later, one of the jurors is found dead, and Maya is the prime suspect. The real killer could be any of the other ten jurors. Is Maya being forced to pay the price for her decision all those years ago? ********** 'Plunge a syringe filled with adrenaline into the heart of Twelve Angry Men and you've got The Holdout: the first legal thriller in thirty years - ever since Presumed Innocent and A Time to Kill electrified readers the world over - to rank alongside those two modern classics.' AJ Finn 'A page-turning legal thriller with a twisty and absolutely riveting plot ... plus a strong and compelling female heroine. You won't be able to put this one down!' Lisa Scottoline 'Clever, well-written and twistier than a can of silly-string. You absolutely need to read The Holdout!' Emma Kavanagh 'Amazing thriller, deserves to be one of the biggest books of 2020' Michelle Davies 'Terrific, twisty and well-structured thriller' Adele Geras

America's economy is in shambles . . . Its citizens are terrified and dissatisfied . . . Could it all have been planned by a secret elite one hundred years ago?

The New World Order. Hitler referred to it in his diaries. President George H. W. Bush foretold of it in his speeches. Formed by a secretive global elite, the group seeking this new order has taken hold of the nation--and perhaps the world. Its influence pervades every aspect of American society, from the products we buy at the grocery store to the topics of evening news programs. But could it also be true that the New World Order caused one of the greatest financial catastrophes of our time?

Bestselling author and legendary conspiracy researcher Jim Marrs has yet again exposed information that the mainstream corporate media has refused to report, unearthing the lies to expose the insidious alliances that make up a secret world. In the explosive The Trillion-Dollar Conspiracy, Marrs digs beneath the media noise surrounding the financial bailouts of 2008 and 2009 while exploring the back rooms and shadowy deals of our nation's past to craft a frightening history that no one else is brave enough to tell.

"Like all the best meetings of Jewish minds, this book will make you think, argue and see the world anew." Hadley Freeman, author of House of Glass Conspiracy theories about Jews are back in the mainstream. The Pittsburgh gunman who murdered 11 people in a synagogue claimed that 'filthy evil' Jews were bringing 'filthy evil' Muslims into America. The billionaire philanthropist George Soros has been accused of supporting 'white genocide'. Labour Party members have claimed that Israel is behind ISIS. The belief that Jews are plotting against society never dies, it just adapts to suit the times: from medieval accusations that Jews murder Christians for their blood to claims that Zionists are seeking to control the world. In eight short essays, edited by Jo Glanville, this book goes back to the source of the conspiracy theories and traces their journey into the 21st century in a bid to make sense of their survival. With contributions from some of the great Jewish writers and thinkers of our time, including Tom Segev, Jill Jacobs and Mikhail Grynberg, this is a fresh take on the roots of antisemitism that explores how an irrational belief can still flourish in a supposedly rational age.

Here is a true story of international intrigue, romances, corruption, graft, and political assassinations, the like of which has never been written before. It is the story of how different groups or atheistic- materialistic men have played in an international chess tournament to decide which group would win ultimate control of the wealth, natural resources, and man- power of the entire world. It is explained how the game has reached the final stage. The International Communists, and the International Capitalists, (both of whom have totalitarian ambitions) have temporarily joined hands to defeat Christian-democracy. The solution is to end the game the International Conspirators have been playing right now before one or another totalitarian-minded group imposes their ideas on the rest of mankind. The story is sensational and shocking, but it is educational because it is the TRUTH. The author offers practical solutions to problems so many people consider insoluble.

The contributors to this volume argue that whilst there is a commonplace superstition conspiracy theories are examples of bad beliefs (and that the kind of people who believe conspiracy theories are typically irrational), many conspiracy theories are rational to believe: the members of the Dewey Commission were right to say that the Moscow Trials of the 1930s were a sham; Woodward and Bernstein were correct to think that Nixon was complicit in the conspiracy to deny any wrongdoing in the Watergate Hotel break in; and if we either accept the terrorist events of 9/11 were committed by Al-Qaeda, or that the Bush Administration was responsible, then it seems we are endorsing some theory about a conspiracy to commit an act of terror on American soil. As such, there is no reason to reject conspiracy theories sui generis. This volume challenges the prima facie that conspiracy theories are irrational beliefs, arguing that we should treat conspiracy theories and the phenomena of conspiracy theories seriously. It presents fresh perspectives from the wider philosophical, sociological and psychological community on what is becoming an issue of increasing relevance in our time.