This site usually reviews serious books of history, sometimes ponderously serious books. This book is more like “anti-history”; it’s subtitled: The 10 Greatest Conspiracies of All Time.
The book arises from the TV show Decoded on the History network, and presents the crew’s favorite conspiracy theories. As is typical for such shows, they never resolve any of their mysteries.
wikianswers defines a conspiracy theory as “a version of events that a group of people believe to be true in direct conflict to the official version.” I think of such theories as pointing to sinister forces, viewed by non-believers as wacky and immune to facts (since anyone who disputes the theory could be one of the conspirators).
The book “give[s] you our theories – plus the sensible and logical questions to ask – and then you decide who you believe.” This “you decide” presentation sounds appealing, but, of course, as a reader you only have the information the writer chose to offer. But these are popular theories, so you’ll find more information on the Internet, where you must sort out reliable sources from wackadoodles. (I like to start with Wikipedia; at least it receives input from multiple sources and has an editing policy.)
The authors Brad Meltzer and Keith Ferrell write in Meltzer’s voice and I will follow their lead. Meltzer includes a lot of unreferenced statements such as “supposedly founded”, “believed to have been”, “rumors… are even wilder”, and “many have believed…”
Sometimes he expresses skepticism: “until [there is] definite proof, we may never know”; “[go]to the sources, and [don’t be] satisfied with secondhand reports”; “history has since disproven”; “we just don’t know”; “Good story, right? Unfortunately it’s not true”; “I don’t believe that”; “Not sure I believe that.” He also presents some mutually-exclusive theories so they can’t possibly all be true.
The conspiracies offered are old stories, which may be disappointing to readers already familiar with them, and mostly American. For example:
- The unsolved mystery of “DB Cooper”, who parachuted from a commercial airplane in 1971 with a large cash ransom but has never been identified. Meltzer presents a plausible suspect, but the conspiracy doesn’t seem “great” to me.
- Another less-than-great notion (it seems to me) is that the cornerstone of the White House is missing. I thought, does that mean there’s a big hole in the foundation? No, it refers to a missing commemorative plaque, or maybe hidden carvings somewhere in the basement. Due to the complete lack of any documented description of the stone, it’s all speculation.
- An Indiana-Jones-style legendary spear, once used to stab Jesus on the cross, and sought by Nazis. Many of the legends about the spear “come solely from a 1973 book… screenwriters of Raiders of the Lost Ark used [the book] as part of the movie’s plot.”
- UFOs and Area 5: a classic chestnut. Check out csicop.org for sample debunking.
- The “top” conspiracy theory is about President Kennedy’s assassination; and it split into ten conspiracies of its own.
- Freemasons, Rosicrucians, and other favorite conspirators.
Read the book for fun or to test your own reasoning abilities. Meltzer also gives you something to think about in his introduction: “Show me your favorite conspiracy and I’ll show you who you are… You’re about to find out a great deal about yourself.”
PS: I cringe a little at the word “theory” in this book. In science a theory is a well-tested and confirmed principle, while in common parlance a theory is speculation. This is, of course, a general-interest book and words mean whatever most of us agree they mean, so I accept “theory” as meaning speculation here. But I must say, talking to people can be hard work.