In an engrossing narrative, Dickey explains how the human search for purpose can become comical, weird, and/or dark.
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.Pub Date: July 11, 2023
ISBN: 9780593299456
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: April 3, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.
Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.
During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorkerstaff writer Grann (The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.Pub Date: April 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.
A coffee-table book celebrates Michelle Obama’s sense of fashion.
Illustrated with hundreds of full-color photographs, Obama’s chatty latest book begins with some school portraits from the author’s childhood in Chicago and fond memories of back-to-school shopping at Sears, then jumps into the intricacies of clothing oneself as the spouse of a presidential candidate and as the first lady. “People looked forward to the outfits, and once I got their attention, they listened to what I had to say. This is the soft power of fashion,” she says. Obama is grateful and frank about all the help she got along the way, and the volume includes a long section written by her primary wardrobe stylist, Koop—28 years old when she first took the job—and shorter sections by makeup artists and several hair stylists, who worked with wigs and hair extensions as Obama transitioned back to her natural hair, and grew out her bangs, at the end of her husband’s second term. Many of the designers of the author’s gowns, notably Jason Wu, who designed several of her more striking outfits, also contribute appreciative memories. Besides candid and more formal photographs, the volume features many sketches of her gowns by their designers, closeups on details of those gowns, and magazine covers from Better Homes & Gardens to Vogue. The author writes that as a Black woman, “I was under a particularly white-hot glare, constantly appraised for whether my outfits were ‘acceptable’ and ‘appropriate,’ the color of my skin somehow inviting even more judgment than the color of my dresses.” Overall, though, this is generally a canny, upbeat volume, with little in the way of surprising revelations.
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780593800706
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
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