Them: Adventures with Extremists

Them: Adventures with Extremists Jon Ronson Date: 31 December, 2002   —   $10.40   —   Book product page Rating:

I really enjoyed this book. Although it's not quite as humorous or extremist as the jacket cover leads you to believe, it's still a fun romp through conspiracy-ville.

Ronson spends a couple very interesting and bizarre years hanging out with various extremists - Islamic fundamentalists, racists, neo-Nazis, and Jewish movie moguls - and finds a common thread: the belief that there is a small shadowy group of influential men who control the world. Ronson then proceeds to track them down.

I'm going to do a little bit of a spoiler:

The group actually exists. They're called the Bilderberg group. The reason I bring this up is because Jack Heinz, Teresa Heinz-Kerry's first husband was a long-time member. Also, it turns out that John Edwards was invited to attend this year's meeting in June - right before John Kerry chose him as his running mate.

Ronson also chases down another group of VIPs including Vice President Dick Cheney and President Bush's Dad, who meet once a year in northern California to plot global domination and burn a man in effigy as a sacrifice to a giant owl god.

If you like conspiracy theories, this really is an excellent book and an easy, enjoyable read. It's almost a shame that Ronson chases these guys down. The reality behind the groups isn't quite as creepy as the mythos.

Or is it? Ronson makes these groups sound so relatively harmless, you have wonder if They got to Ronson, or perhaps Ronson is actually one of Them.