Enemies Within: The Culture of Conspiracy in Modern America (review)

Enemies Within reflects the increasing prominence that conspiracy theory has attained in both public and academic circles. While conspiracy has long played a major role in public discourse, Goldberg's work is motivated by his perception that conspiracy theory, conspiratorial themes, and conspiracy "imaging" have achieved an especially alarming prominence in the mainstream of late twentieth- and early twenty-first century America. The work is also a reflection of Goldberg's discontent with the influence of Richard Hofstader's seminal essay "The Paranoid Style in American Politics" within the academy. This work is said to have served as a catalyst for the existing academic framework focusing on "psychological explanations" of conspiracy discourse, and encouraged scholars to view conspiracy theorists as inhabiting the margins and fringes of society. By contrast, Goldberg advocates an approach more sensitive to historical, social, and political context, an approach that, among other things, accounts for the frequent presence of conspiracy discourse within the American "mainstream" (xi).

The study is organized around five conspiracy theories chosen on the basis of "centrality, popularity, viability over time, range, and. . . variety of sources": the "Master Conspiracy" revolving around the alleged influence of Communists and the "New World Order," the Christian Right's theories concerning the Antichrist, conspiracies pertaining to the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the Nation of Islam's anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, and the various theories revolving around government cover-ups of the existence of UFOs and extraterrestrial intelligence (xii). These cases form the basis for a number of general conclusions about conspiracy discourse, many of which confirm the findings of previous studies by historians, political scientists, and rhetorical scholars. Goldberg points out that conspiratorial interpretations bring a sort of order and clarity to a world that often seems confusing and random (240). He notes that conspiracists are often "slippery in their logic . . . careless of facts and assumptions," and that their positions possess a self-sealing nature that tends to deny contradiction (240, 237). The author reiterates the notion that conspiracy theories provide clear-cut enemies against which groups or entire nations might clarify and construct their own identities (20). He points out the tactical value of conspiracy discourse (64, 151), its ability to mobilize social movements (188), and the extent to which conspiracy discourse "personalizes" society's problems, deflecting attention from the failures of social and political systems and institutions (20).

Goldberg makes more substantial contributions to the literature in terms of his thesis regarding the "mainstreaming" of conspiracy. His study finds that while each conspiracy theory is most strenuously advocated by a "core" or "nucleus" of absolutely committed countersubversives (corresponding to Hofstader's notion that conspiracy theory is generally the province of fringe groups), a given theory frequently finds adherents well beyond these audiences of true believers. Indeed Goldberg reads the postwar history of most of these conspiracy theories as one of oscillation from belief solely by a "core" group of believers, outward toward a "periphery" of believers within the political mainstream, and eventually back again to the "nucleus" of the countersubversive community.

Goldberg finds that this periodicity of belief is the result of a number of factors that contribute to making conspiracy theories more credible at particular times and places. First, he finds that belief in a given conspiracy theory increases according to its correspondence with historical events as well as with "personal and group histories" (242). Second, he focuses on the credentials of the "messengers" of conspiracy. In addition to committed countersubversives at the "core," a variety of society's more credible actors contribute to "conspiracy imaging." Goldberg finds that actors in the news media and entertainment industry often reinforce belief in conspiracies. Television and film are said to be particularly instrumental insofar as conspiracy themes remain at the forefront of their material (243-51). Conspiracy theories also gain credence when advocated by ministers and leaders of...