Conspiracies of Conspiracies: How Delusions Have Overrun America

451 Pages·2019·1.79 MB·English

by  Thomas Milan Konda

CONSPIRACIES OF
CONSPIRACIES

Konda
Thomas
Milan
Conspiracies
O F
Conspiracies
HOW DELUSIONS HAVE
OVERRUN AMERICA
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS
Chicago and London
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2019 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or repro-
duced in any manner whatsoever without written permission,
except in the case of brief quotations in critical articles and
reviews. For more information, contact the University of Chicago
Press, 1427 E. 60th St., Chicago, IL 60637.
Published 2019
Printed in the United States of America
28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 1 2 3 4 5
ISBN-1 3: 978-0 -2 26-5 8576-5 (cloth)
ISBN-1 3: 978-0 -2 26-5 8593-2 (e-b ook)
DOI: https://d oi. org/ 10. 7208/ chicago/ 9780226585932. 001. 0001
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Konda, Thomas Milan, author.
Title: Conspiracies of conspiracies : how delusions have over-
run America / Thomas
Milan Konda.
Description: Chicago ; London : University of Chicago Press,
2019. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018034310 | ISBN 9780226585765 (pbk. : alk.
paper) | ISBN
80226585932 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Conspiracy theories. | History—Errors, inven-
tions, etc.
Classification: LCC AZ999 .K65 2019 | DDC 001.9—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018034310
♾ This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48– 1992
(Permanence of Paper).
For June

CONTENTS
Introduction Conspiracy Theories and Conspiracism · 1
1 The Invention of Conspiracy Theory: The French Revolution
and the Bavarian Illuminati · 13
2 Conspiracism Takes Shape in the United States · 28
3 Preconditions for Modern Conspiracism: Jewish Assimilation,
Premillennialism, and Aryan Occultism · 47
4 The International Jewish Conspiracy and the
Secret Government · 67
5 The Emergence of the Hidden Hand · 88
6 The Rise and Fall of the Hidden Hand · 110
7 From Neo- Nazi to White Supremacist Conspiracism · 127
8 The Emergence of the New World Order · 143
9 The Conspiracy of Personal Destruction · 161
10 The Planners Take Over · 180
11 Pan- Ideological Conspiracy Theories:
Denialism and Cover- Up · 197
12 Conspiracism Proliferates: Some Anomalies · 214
13 Christian Identity and the White Race · 232
14 The Government Conspiracy against “Us” · 250
15 Conspiracism Rebounds: Truthers,
Birthers, and the New Militias · 269
16 Conspiracism Enters the Mainstream · 283
17 The Attack on Science · 302
18 Democracy and Civil Society · 315
Acknowledgments · 331
Notes · 333
Index · 429
INTRODUCTION
CONSPIRACY THEORIES
AND CONSPIRACISM
The definition of conspiracy theory poses unexpected difficulties.
Brian Keeley, “Of Conspiracy Theories”
Americans see hoaxes and plots everywhere: from climate change to
immunizations to almost anything having to do with Hillary Clinton. But
why? Is the constant stream of conspiracy theories a side effect of social
media? Are conspiracy theories a product of the increasing polarization
of politics? Or have they always been around and for some reason we
just notice them more now?
We can start to answer the last question: in their modern form, they
have been around for at least two hundred years. The United States was
less than ten years old when New England religious leaders sounded
the alarm about the Illuminati’s plans to destroy the republic. And this
was only the beginning. In 1831, the Anti- Masonic Party held the first
national political convention. Perhaps predictably, speeches there were
peppered with conspiratorial rhetoric about Freemasonry. Before invent-
ing the telegraph, Samuel Morse gained fame by warning that the Aus-
trian emperor had orchestrated a conspiracy to undermine the world’s
1