Debunked!: Conspiracy Theories, Urban Legends, and Evil Plots of the 21st Century [Hardcover]

Richard Roeper (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2008

You know what's really going on, don't you? Flight 93 secretly landed in Cleveland, where the passengers were whisked off to a NASA facility. Nostradamus predicted JFK Jr.'s plane crash, which was engineered by the One World Government. Online poker sites are rigged to knock out the short stacks. Donald Rumsfeld was behind the bird flu panic.

 

That's what it's like to live inside the mind of the 21st-century conspiracy theorist, who believes that all you have to do is look at the signs and you'll see what's really going on. And thousands if not millions of people actually believe this is the way the world works.

 

Debunked! is a breezy but fact-filled dissection of more than two dozen of the most popular urban legends and conspiracy theories of the 21st century. As he did in Urban Legends and Hollywood Urban Legends, and as he has done in dozens of columns for the Chicago Sun-Times over the last decade and a half, Richard Roeper lays out the basics of each conspiracy theory, quotes some of the true believers—and then tears the theory apart with his bare hands.

 

This book will provide you with invaluable ammunition for the next time you communicate with someone from that other, shadow world—that place where secret tribunals pull the strings and influence the outcome of everything from terrorist attacks to professional sporting events.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Newspaper columnist and TV movie reviewer Roeper takes on a variety of widely believed myths about pop culture, politics, sports, business, and even religion. He approaches his targets—whether conspiracy theories surrounding the death of Princess Diana or those mysterious faces appearing on food products—from a commonsensical point of view, asking simply, Where’s the evidence? For instance, you’ve heard that it wasn’t the airplanes crashing into the World Trade Center on 9/11 that caused the towers to fall, but rather that the collapse resulted from the towers being rigged with explosives in advance. Perfectly logical, except that the biggest piece of evidence in support of the theory (that jet fuel doesn’t burn at a temperature high enough to melt steel) is irrelevant (because the steel of the towers wouldn’t need to melt, just weaken and buckle). Along with pointing out why much-loved legends are asinine, Roeper isn’t above going for laughs (and getting most of them). Recommend this one to fans of Al Franken’s Lies (and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them) or the works of noted skeptics James Randi, Robert Baker, and Michael Shermer. --David Pitt

Review

"Along with pointing out why much-loved legends are asinine, Roeper isn't above going for laughs (and getting most of them)."  —Booklist

"[Roeper's] hyped up on information and lays it all out there in easy-to-follow logic."  —Chicago Sun-Times

"Roeper injects lots of humor and fun into his dissections and isn't afraid to get on his soapbox."  —Pop Syndicate

"A very entertaining book."  —blogcritics.org

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Chicago Review Press; 1 edition (June 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556527071
• ISBN-13: 978-1556527074
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #784,107 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Shallow & Silly, November 24, 2008

By 

Alex Myrick "Burien Critic" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Debunked!: Conspiracy Theories, Urban Legends, and Evil Plots of the 21st Century (Hardcover)

In this age of new conspiracy theories being hatched daily, we are in need of a thoughtful work to shed the light of reality on many of them. Unfortunately, this book is not it. Most of the chapters, if submitted as Jr. High English or Creative Writing assignments, would be lucky to receive a passing grade. One problem is that it is too ambitious for the amount of work the author was willing to put in: He takes on 28 issues of varying significance (from 9/11 to the Virgin Mary in a grilled cheese sandwich,) and tries to cover them all in less than 200 pages of actual text. The results are necessarily superficial, but the author's attitude and choices make them even more so. For example, on the nuanced issue of media bias, the author merely compiles a simple list of 55 conservative columnists, publications, commentators and bloggers, sandwiches it between two sarcastic comments, and Presto! That's his chapter debunking "The Vast left-Wing Conspiracy." If you want to see urban legends debunked, go online to [...] and avoid wasting your time and money on this amateurish effort.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Roeper really doesn't make any points, September 1, 2009

By 

JHM "jensays" (Flushing, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Debunked!: Conspiracy Theories, Urban Legends, and Evil Plots of the 21st Century (Hardcover)

So many of the articles in this book have explanations for conspiracy theories "debunked" by explanations such as "how could so many people be fooled" or "wouldn't someone have seen it". If the book had more humor (OK, 9/11 isn't a funny subject, but many of the topics are), it would have gained at least one star from me. However, I found it flat, repetitive, and generally boring. I know Roeper can do better then this.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A sane, and entertaining, look at silly conspiracy therories., April 19, 2010

By 

R. C Sheehy "deadsox" (Foxboro,MA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Debunked!: Conspiracy Theories, Urban Legends, and Evil Plots of the 21st Century (Hardcover)

I have to hand it to Richard Roeper, he has taken on a task that should have been done a long time ago and achieved something worth while. Much like cleaning out an old garage, he has dared to throw down the gauntlet and show just how silly and stupid most theories are. What makes this work so entertaining is that Roeper doesn't bother to hide his contempt for the the theories themselves. He also has fun with the people who push these theories which I am sure he enjoys doing.

I read his columns and reviews and will admit I do not agree with all of his viewpoints. What makes this book enjoyable is that it is, like his columns, written in his own voice and opinion and very readable. Richard Roeper encourages debate and that makes it very enjoyable to read his work.