Under the Eye of Power

May 1, 2023
The author of Ghostland and The Unidentified returns with a colorful history of conspiracy theories in the U.S. Humans are disposed to seek order and explanation, but the world around us is a messy and unpredictable place. In this engaging book, cultural historian Dickey examines how conspiracy theories have been a way to deal with this tension. Most are harmless and a bit wacky, but others can metastasize into violence and persecution. The U.S. has a history of conspiracy theories dating back to the founding, and Dickey tracks theories about Freemasons, Catholics, and witches, among other groups. Most theories are based on the premise that a secret cabal is planning to undermine democratic institutions and personal freedom, or had already done so and was governing from the shadows. As society became more complex, many people felt an increasing desire for a single answer, a hidden paradigm that explained everything. Conspiracy theories are usually derived from a few pieces of evidence that are slotted together. Contrary material or alternate explanations are merely ignored or, in many cases, subsumed into the conspiracy itself. The internet, where anyone can say anything, was a boon for conspiracy theorists, both as a means to start new theories and to spread old ones. There are plenty on both ends of the political spectrum, but Dickey shows how, currently, the radical right has the edge in terms of number, variety, and silliness. The good news is that most conspiracy theories eventually burn out; the bad news is that they are quickly replaced. The best way to counter them, writes the author, is with common sense and hard-nosed skepticism. However, they are unlikely to disappear. "The idea that our day-to-day lives are determined far more by chaos than by human agency may be too much for many people to process," Dickey concludes. In an engrossing narrative, Dickey explains how the human search for purpose can become comical, weird, and/or dark.

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Starred review from May 8, 2023
Cultural historian Dickey (Ghostland) argues in this gripping examination of America’s continuing embrace of conspiracy theories that “a paranoia of secret, subversive societies, is not just peripheral to the functioning of democracy, but at its very heart.” Appearing with regularity throughout American history, conspiracy theories “are almost always a carefully controlled and nurtured rhetorical tool to shift and shape what will and won’t be considered ‘American,’ ” according to Dickey. Moreover, popular memory glosses over the enormous number of small-scale conspiracy theories that arose (and sometimes still persist) under the mainstream radar. Dickey chronologically traces the various manifestations of conspiratorial thinking from the pre–Revolutionary War period to the 20th century, examining anti-Catholic, anti-Semitic, anti-Labor, anti-Black, anti- (and pro-) slavery conspiracy theories, among others. Turning to the present day, he examines the rise of QAnon and wild theories about the origins of Covid-19. Drawing on the work of philosopher Karl Popper, Dickey sees conspiracy theories as “a secularized version of religion” and argues they must be resisted as part of the struggle for a free and fair democracy. This is a vivid and intriguing recontextualization of a misunderstood aspect of American history.