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Have an idea for Subject of the Month?
December 2016
Selectors: Richard Buboltz, Rachael Clark, and Karen Liston
conspiracy theory
NOUN
1. a theory that explains an event as being the result of a plot by a covert group or organization; a belief that a particular unexplained event was caused by such a group.
2. the idea that many important political events or economic and social trends are the products of secret plots that are largely unknown to the general public.
conspiracy theory. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged. Retrieved November 30, 2016 from Dictionary.com website http://www.dictionary.com/browse/conspiracy-theory
Books in Print
Conspiracy by Call Number: D 21.3 .P55 1997 Purdy LibraryISBN: 0684831317Publication Date: 1997-10-11An analysis of conspiracy theories in the West and the impact that they have had. The text includes the tale of how the sales of a soft drink plummeted when rumours spread that it caused sterility in black men.
Conspiracy Theories by Call Number: HV 6275 .R35 2000 Purdy LibraryISBN: 1903047307Publication Date: 2001-03-01If you think the X-Files is fiction, you probably also think that Elvis is dead and believe the US actually went to the moon. It's all a conspiracy theory isn't it? This new guide gets right to the heart of the matter and presents a comprehensive collection of the current theories now doing the rounds. Some may be ripe for ridicule but others may be worth serious consideration and helping the reader sort out which is which is what this handy book is all about.
Conspiracy Theory Websites, December 2016
- WantToKnow.Info"WantToKnow.info relies on the great work of an informal network of respected researchers and concerned citizens from around the globe. Some of these people have written key books which are summarized on this website. Others have sent valuable information revealing major cover-ups. All are courageous citizens who venture where many dare not go. "
More Websites:
- The Skeptics Society"A nonprofit 501(c)(3) scientific and educational organization whose mission is to engage leading experts in investigating the paranormal, fringe science, pseudoscience, and extraordinary claims of all kinds, promote critical thinking, and serve as an educational tool for those seeking a sound scientific viewpoint."
- CONSPIRACY THEORIES Who Believes Them, and Why? How Can You Determine if They are True or False?"What is a conspiracy theory, why do people believe in them, and why do they tend to proliferate? Why does belief in one conspiracy correlate to belief in others? What are the triggers of belief, and how does group identity factor into it? How can one tell the difference between a true conspiracy and a false one? For the answers, download this free booklet, created by Michael Shermer and Pat Linse,by Michael Shermer and Pat Linse, the founders of Skeptic magazine and your Skeptics Society."
Image Gallery
Disclose.TV
"A fast growing multimedia and news hub dedicated to unusual and unexplained phenomena as well as alternative topics that may be ignored, denied or inandequatly covered within the mainstream media."
FBI Vault
- FBI Vault - Jimmy HoffaEighteen documents on Jimmy Hoffa from the FBI in the public record.
Roswell, UFOs, & Aliens
- FBI Vault - UFO"In 1947, a rash of sightings of unexplained flying objects (UFOs) swept America. Although the newly formed U.S. Air Force was the primary investigator of these sightings, the FBI received many reports and worked for a time with the Air Force to investigate these matters. This release details the FBI’s role in investigating such reports between 1947 and 1954."
Videos, December 2016
The Power Elite and the Death of the Middle Class
Running Time: 38 mins; Year: 2012
"Packed with new insights on why and how the U.S. and other powers are being sacrificed on the altar of globalism and what this means for you."
Mirage Men - UFO Conspiracies
Running Time: 86 mins; Year: 2013
What if the UFO conspiracy was turned on its head? Instead the modern mythology of governments covering up UFO sightings, the military had been and still is actually encouraging it as part of their ancient cold war counterintelligence arsenal. Mirage Men draws viewers into a saucer-shaped hall of mirrors, a shadow-world where every lie contains elements of the truth, and the truth is far stranger than the UFO believers, or their detractors, would have you believe.
eBooks on Conspiracy Theories
A Culture of Conspiracy
- Call Number: WSU Access ID & Password Required
- ISBN: 9780520276826
- Publication Date: 2013-08-15
What do UFO believers, Christian millennialists, and right-wing conspiracy theorists have in common? According to Michael Barkun in this fascinating yet disturbing book, quite a lot. It is well known that some Americans are obsessed with conspiracies. The Kennedy assassination, the Oklahoma City bombing, and the 2001 terrorist attacks have all generated elaborate stories of hidden plots. What is far less known is the extent to which conspiracist worldviews have recently become linked in strange and unpredictable ways with other "fringe" notions such as a belief in UFOs, Nostradamus, and the Illuminati. Unraveling the extraordinary genealogies and permutations of these increasingly widespread ideas, Barkun shows how this web of urban legends has spread among subcultures on the Internet and through mass media, how a new style of conspiracy thinking has recently arisen, and how this phenomenon relates to larger changes in American culture.
Conspiracy Theory in America
- Call Number: WSU Access ID & Password Required
- ISBN: 0292743793
- Publication Date: 2013-04-15
Lance deHaven-Smith reveals that the term "conspiracy theory" entered the American lexicon of political speech to deflect criticism of the Warren Commission and traces it back to a CIA propaganda campaign to discredit doubters of the commission's report. He asks tough questions and connects the dots among five decades' worth of suspicious events, including the assassinations of John and Robert Kennedy, the attempted assassinations of George Wallace and Ronald Reagan, the crimes of Watergate, the Iran-Contra arms-for-hostages deal, the disputed presidential elections of 2000 and 2004, the major defense failure of 9/11, and the subsequent anthrax letter attacks. Sure to spark intense debate about the truthfulness and trustworthiness of our government, Conspiracy Theory in America offers a powerful reminder that a suspicious, even radically suspicious, attitude toward government is crucial to maintaining our democracy.
Conspiracy Theories
- Call Number: WSU Access ID & Password Required
- ISBN: 0230349218
- Publication Date: 2011-10-12
Through a series of specific questions that cut to the core of conspiracism as a global social and cultural phenomenon this book deconstructs the logic and rhetoric of conspiracy theories and analyses the broader social and psychological factors that contribute to their persistence in modern society.
63 Documents the Government Doesn't Want You to Read
- Call Number: WSU Access ID & Password Required
- ISBN: 1626368856
- Publication Date: 2011-05-02
In addition to providing original government data, Ventura discusses what it really means and how regular Americans can stop criminal behavior at the top levels of government and in the media. Although these documents are now in the public domain, the powers that be would just as soon they stay under wraps. Ventura's research and commentary sheds new light on what they're not telling you--and why it matters.
Knowledge Goes Pop
- Call Number: WSU Access ID & Password Required
- ISBN: 9781845201432
- Publication Date: 2006-09-05
A voice on late night radio tells you that a fast food restaurant injects its food with drugs that make men impotent. A colleague asks if you think the FBI was in on 9/11. An alien abductee on the Internet claims extra-terrestrials have planted a microchip in her body. "Julia Roberts in Porn Scandal" shouts the front page of a gossip mag. A spiritual healer claims he can cure chronic fatigue syndrome with the energizing power of crystals . . . What do you believe? Knowledge Goes Pop examines the popular knowledges that saturate our everyday experience. We make this information and then it shapes the way we see the world. How valid is it when compared to official knowledge and why does such (mis)information cause so much institutional anxiety? This book examines the range of knowledge, from conspiracy theory to plain gossip, and its role and impact in our culture.
Enemies Within
- Call Number: WSU Access ID & Password Required
- ISBN: 0300090005
- Publication Date: 2001-10-11
There is a hunger for conspiracy news in America. Hundreds of Internet websites, magazines, newsletters, even entire publishing houses, disseminate information on invisible enemies and their secret activities, subversions, and coverups. Those who suspect conspiracies behind events in the news, such as the crash of TWA Flight 800 or the death of Marilyn Monroe, join generations of Americans, from the colonial period to the present day, who have entertained visions of vast plots. In this enthralling book Robert Goldberg focuses on five major conspiracy theories of the past half-century, examining how they became widely popular in the United States and why they have remained so. In the post-World War II decades conspiracy theories have become more numerous, more commonly believed, and more deeply embedded in our culture, Goldberg contends. He investigates conspiracy theories regarding the Roswell UFO incident, the Communist threat, the rise of the Antichrist, the assassination of President John Kennedy, and the Jewish plot against black America, in each case taking historical, social, and political environments into account.
Database, December 2016
- Opposing Viewpoints This link opens in a new windowOpposing Viewpoints in Context is the premier online resource covering today's hottest social issues, from Offshore Drilling to Climate Change, Health Care to Immigration. Opposing Viewpoints in Context helps students research, analyze and organize a broad variety of data for conducting research, completing writing assignments, preparing for debates, creating presentations and more.
Fact-Checking and Debunking
- Snopes.comThis website "has come to be regarded as an online touchstone of rumor research."
- How To Recognize A Fake News Story9 helpful tips to stop yourself from sharing false information.
- Hoax-Slayer"Debunks email and social media hoaxes, thwarts Internet scammers, combats spam, and educates web users about email, social media, and Internet security issues."
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn's Last Words by Call Number: PN 2287 .M69 S57 2004 Undergraduate LibraryISBN: 0786713801Publication Date: 2004-07-20Marilyn Monroe's death in August 1962, apparently a suicide, shocked the world. The coroner's report stated that her death was due to a massive overdose of Nembutal capsules. But what about the discrepancies between the official report and the eyewitness accounts and memories of the people who were there at the scene of her death--friends, her housekeeping staff, police officers, and doctors? And what about the forensic evidence that disappeared between the time of her death and the coroner's report being issued? Looking back at thousands of documents, many never before published, and interviewing dozens of sources, Smith argues strongly for a startling new version of events, as he paints a portrait of her day-to-day world toward the end of her life. The case he makes so convincingly is based not only on the documents and on complete forensic evidence, but also on the secret, confidential tapes Monroe made for her psychiatrist in the days leading up to her death--tapes that reveal a woman in charge of her life and her fate, a woman looking forward to a busy, bright future.
From the FBI Vault -- Documents Regarding Marilyn Monroe:
Assassination of JFK
Critical Thinking
- Can We Think Critically Anymore?Article by Derek Beres, Appeared on Big Think, September 13, 2016