Conspiracies, Cover-Ups and Diversions: A Collection of Lies, Hoaxes and Hidden Truths [Paperback]

Stewart Home (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 48 pages
• Publisher: Sabotage Editions (October 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0951441728
• ISBN-13: 978-0951441725
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Is pointlessness the point?, August 25, 2008

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golgotha.gov (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Conspiracies, Cover-Ups and Diversions: A Collection of Lies, Hoaxes and Hidden Truths (Paperback)

CONSPIRACIES, COVER-UPS & DIVERSIONS (1995)
by Stewart Home

This is a short booklet containing several short articles by the UK-based writer Stewart Home. It features some articles on conspiracies as well as some satires and reviews of art exhibitions. The back cover promises that it is "the most fascinating collection of journalism you will ever read". I am sorry to say that I have to disagree.

Home is an interesting writer with many uninteresting tendencies. The habit that usually tanks some of his better texts is his enormous ego. For example, the preface to this collection notes that one article was published under the Karen Eliot pseudonym. The text in question ("Home on Deranged") follows Home around as he talks with famous writers and artists, complete with positive accolades for his own books and wild rumor about his sex life. I understand that part of the point of "neoism" is the play with media representation and decentralize identity, but this article (again, written by Home) is clearly made to make Home look either cool or important. Who cares?

Another problem with Home's writing is his habit of making big statements that are light on research. Fortunately this is not true of all of his books but it is certainly the case in 'Conspiracies, Cover-Ups & Diversions'. It takes him an entire page to say that there is no consensus on global warming. He suggests that Kurt Cobain was part of a CIA mind control program. Certainly these are neat ideas, but there is no "meat" in these articles. As such they are only single noisy sentences that have been inflated into essays. The first bunch of articles in the book, collectively titled "Royal Watch", allege that Prince Charles is a full blown satanist. I'm all for being iconoclastic but this is not funny or even original.

The best essay in the collection is "Dresden" which deals with the notorious WWII Allied bombing campaign. Here we have an case where Stewart Home is not attempting to grandstand or outdo literary rivals by making ridiculous proclamations. He simply states the positions most prevalent in the UK with regards to the incident and weighs in on how the view of the bombing has affected foreign policy in the years following the war. It is a shame that the rest of the articles aren't written in a similar manner.

Unfortunately there are more "diversions" than informative articles in this booklet. Home has released several titles that are superior to this one such as 'Green Apocalypse' which is from the same time period.