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Surrounded by Conspiracies The terms of conspiracy and conspiracy theory are familiar as any in the English language: Area 51, the Manchurian Candidate, and the Grassy Knoll. This speaks directly to the ubiquity of conspiracy and conspiracy theory in modern American culture. Yet conspiracies are as ancient as human civilization itself, since a con- spiracy is, by law, a “combination or confederacy between two or more persons formed for the purpose of committing by their joint efforts, some unlawful or criminal act” (Pipes 1997, 20). Even so, conspiracy theories have reached a posi- tion of real, measurable cultural significance. They are the subject of major aca- demic books, scholarly journals, and professional conferences, all seeking to explain their function within contemporary culture and their power over the pop- ular imagination. The entertainment industry has capitalized on this popular obsession and flooded screens with conspiracy-themed movies and TV shows too numerous to count. In the westernized, developed nations, people are fascinated by the idea that their politicians, businessmen, scientists, journalists, and other intellectual and social elites are working together in secret to control people’s lives and unfairly profit from economic and political systems. History shows that conspiracies to commit crimes or to secure political objectives do indeed occur from time to time. Some have been exposed, either by investigative journalists or by criminal inves- tigators, while others have remained undetected. Inspired by these real-world instances, conspiracy theorists have conjectured even darker, more elaborate, and farther-reaching designs to conceal political corruption, exert government control, or manipulate the economy. The increased size of corporate bureaucracies and the proliferation of govern- ment agencies encourage rank speculation about what’s going on behind closed doors, especially given the mission of some of these agencies to secretly gather intelligence or engage in various cloak-and-dagger operations. In the absence of disclosure, transparency, and oversight, corporate and political elites dominate popular accounts of treachery and schemes of world domination. Sometimes these accounts end up in the mainstream news media, but they are more likely to be found on “alternative news” sources, such as the Web site Educate-yourself.org and the radio program Coast to Coast AM. The Internet and radio didn’t invent conspiracy theory obsession, but they have done their share to promote it. In many cases, conspiracy theories reveal the worst sentiments in the human mind, including religious bigotry, racial prejudice, anti-intellectualism, and Introduction