russellmuirhead

Conspiracy theories are as old as politics. But conspiracists today have introduced something new—conspiracy without theory. And the new conspiracism has moved from the fringes to the heart of government with the election of Donald Trump. In A Lot of People Are Saying, Russell Muirhead and Nancy Rosenblum show how the new conspiracism differs from classic conspiracy theory, how it undermines democracy, and what needs to be done to resist it.

Russell Muirhead is the Robert Clements Professor of Democracy and Politics at Dartmouth College and the author of The Promise of Party in a Polarized Age, among other books. Nancy L. Rosenblum is the Senator Joseph Clark Research Professor of Ethics in Politics and Government at Harvard University. Her books include Good Neighbors: The Democracy of Everyday Life in America (Princeton).

Does your favorite conspiracy come with evidence and theory of governance, or is it just a meme?

Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, authors of A Lot of People Are Saying: The New Conspiracism and the Assault on Democracy argue that the new conspiracism, while having the feel of classic conspiracy theories, have none of the search for meaning. The authors articulate the rise of this new kind of conspiracy thinking and the ramifications for democratic institutions and our collective understanding of the world.

Host Lisa Schweitzer is joined by Olivia Olson, Jeff Jenkins, and Aubrey Hicks to discuss this new book about the current political moment.

Read along with us! Next month we’re reading Betraying Big Brother: The Feminist Awakening in China by Leta Hong Fincher.

Join the conversation about each episode on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. Or email us at bedrosian.bookclub@usc.edu. Check out the showpage for links to some of the things we talk about.