The 70 Greatest Conspiracies Of All Time: History's Biggest Mysteries, Coverups, and Cabals [Paperback]

Jonathan Vankin (Author), John Whalen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2000

This instant classic has been updated to include late-breaking mysteries and cover-ups, including the alien autopsy, the death of Vince Foster, Big Brother on the Internet, and Japan's shadowy Aum cult.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The book may claim to chronicle the "greatest conspiracies of all time," but there's a decidedly 20th-century bent to Vankin and Whalen's compilation--not that there's anything wrong with that. Many of their selections are familiar territory--the Kennedy and King assassinations, government suppression of UFO data, questions about Marilyn Monroe's suicide--but this edition has been updated to include information on more recent events like the death of Princess Diana and the Oklahoma City bombing. (Although not without some disheartenment: "Back in the good ol' days when conspiracy theorists were still considered crackpots," they lament, "it actually took some kind of evidence to get this kind of frenzy under way.... Now anytime some poor sap dies every frat boy with an Internet account races to be the first in his quad to post the conspiracy of the moment.") The individual essays are written in savvy, journalistic prose, and the authors freely admit that they don't have the answers to any of these mysteries. But that's part of the entertainment value of such historical paranoia--you're always free to imagine some new twist.

Product Details

• Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: Citadel; Rev&Updtd edition (June 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0806520337
• ISBN-13: 978-0806520339
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,007,648 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Perfect for Paranoid Cocktail Party Conversation, May 5, 1999

By 

Randy Stafford (St. Paul, MN USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The 70 Greatest Conspiracies Of All Time: History's Biggest Mysteries, Coverups, and Cabals (Paperback)

An ideal primer for those who don't have the time to read the vast volume of conspiracy literature. This book will not only introduce you to perennial conspiracy favorites involving JFK, the CIA, UFOs, Marilyn Monroe, and Jim Morrison but also more obscure conspiracies. There's that dead reporter in the bathtub. He was working on something called the Octopus file involving stolen software and arms smuggling. And what about those machines in the polling booth? Are they really counting your vote? There's the "Fighting Quaker" who stopped a cabal of American fascists from overthrowing FDR. Who really did the killings at Jonestown? Is fluoride not a plot to steal our precious bodily fluids but to sell us more candy?

You get a briefing on 70 conspiracies and suggestions for further reading, so, the next time someone at a party begins to go on about their favorite conspiracy (and doesn't everyone have at least one?), you'll be able to look them square in the eye and say, "Well, I have a theory..."

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Trust No-One !!, August 12, 1999

By 

Andy Sinnett ([e-mail]) (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The 70 Greatest Conspiracies Of All Time: History's Biggest Mysteries, Coverups, and Cabals (Paperback)

By writing this I'll probably now have a file opened in the CIA database. But hey, stuff 'em. This book is awesome. I dare you to read it and not then be skeptical about everything you see on the TV or read in newspapers (or should they be called "disinformationpapers"). Welcome to the New World Order people; Never has so much been owned, controlled, and covered up by so few.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun, Disturbing, Eye-Opening, and Confusing, April 13, 2002

By 

"ducksquat" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The 70 Greatest Conspiracies Of All Time: History's Biggest Mysteries, Coverups, and Cabals (Paperback)

I admit that I am a cynic and lover of conspiracy theories. Many theories, I believe, are realistic while others are pure manufactured tales. However, who knows what is what and I can't discern which is which without conducting further inspection on my own!

"The 70 Greatest Conspiracies of All Time" is a collection of, you guessed it, 70 short stories with enough fuel to fan the flame of suspicion in your mind. You'll see familiar stories that are well publicized to be potentially real conspiracy cover ups and you'll learn of new ones that you may not have heard of. Regardless, you may well end up keep all doors and windows locked for fear that a secret underground agency may already know you own the knowledge that could upset the world!

The only failing I give the book is that it doesn't go into deep depth with more details on most stories. However, having said that, I know that if they did what I wish they did, I'd be reading a book four times the size of "War and Peace" so that's not the wisest of ideas. I'd like to have seen them cut the book into quarters and make it a four part series, instead. That way, they could really go into deeper depth with each conspiracy.

I'll not list the conspiracies as it will be redundant. My best description of the book is that it is the printed version of what I imagine would be a writing that is crossed between Oliver Stone (JFK movie director) and Chris Carter (X-Files creator). Whether you believe in the theories or not, it certainly is food for thought!