They Knew

How a Culture of Conspiracy Keeps America Complacent

They Knew
Sarah Kendzior
RRP:
NZ$ 59.99
Our Price:
NZ$ 44.99
Hardback
h233 x 154mm - 256pg
13 Sep 2022 US
International import eta 7-19 days
9781250210722
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The truth may hurt-but the lies will kill us. In They Knew, New York Times best-selling author Sarah Kendzior explores the United States' "culture of conspiracy," putting forth a timely and unflinching argument: uncritical faith in broken institutions is as dangerous as false narratives peddled by propagandists. Conspiracy theories are on the rise because officials refuse to enforce accountability for real conspiracies. They Knew discusses conspiracy culture in a rapidly declining United States struggling with corruption, climate change, and other crises. As the actions of the powerful remain shrouded in mystery - like the Jeffrey Epstein operation - it is unsurprising that people turn to conspiracy theories to fill the informational void. They Knew exposes the tactics these powerful actors use to placate an inquisitive public. In Kendzior' s signature whip smart prose and eviscerating arguments, They Knew unearths decades of buried American history, providing an essential and critical look at how to rebuild our democracy by confronting the political lies and crimes that have shaped us.
"From Norman Baker to Jeffrey Epstein, Iran-Contra to January 6, Sarah Kendzior' s forthcoming book, THEY KNEW, deftly separates fact from fiction in a conspiracy-addled nation. " -Vanity Fair"The pathos of truth-seeking left me thinking of Herman Melville. I can' t remember the last time I read a book where every sentence delivered. --Timothy Snyder Deftly dissects the tangled truths behind the conspiracies that intertwine American and international politics, business, and criminality with a style reminiscent of Ronan Farrow' s Catch and Kill or Bob Woodward' s recent books . . . Kendzior' s compelling and urgent prose will speak to readers who are working to make sense of the current political and social landscapes. --Booklist A sharp dissection of a culture of lies, secrets, and conspiracies--including ' the original conspiracy theory: American exceptionalism' . . . . A provocative, pointed challenge to all Americans to dig harder for the truth. --Kirkus Reviews Eye-opening. . . Kendzior' s deep dives into recent scandals are illuminating --Publishers Weekly "A detailed look into both the appeal of conspiracy theories and the effects that they can have on society writ large. " --InsideHook, The 10 Books You Should Be Reading This September Enormously powerful, clear-headed and convincing. --The Straight DopePraise for Hiding in Plain SightThis fucking rocks. --Tori Amos"Flat out fantastic. " --Don WinslowI recommend it, especially if you have any doubt about what' s at stake in this year' s presidential election. --Connie Schultz, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and author of forthcoming novel The Daughters of ErietownSarah Kendzior, in her brilliant new book, is one of the few journalists who grasps what is happening. --David Cay Johnston, New York Times bestselling author of It' s Even Worse Than You Think and Pulitzer-Prize winning journalistAn amazing book about our current political situation and how we got here. --Peter Gallagher"It' s brilliant and also terrifying. You can' t look away. " --Alex George, author of The Paris Hours[Hiding in Plain Sight] outlines how Trump' s rise coincided with what [Kendzior] believes is the degradation of the American political system and the continual erosion of civil liberties in the country by foreign powers, revealing just how fragile American democracy is right now. --International Business Times, Top 10 Best Books About Donald Trump in 2020A chilling account of how the media, government, and public have failed to hold Trump accountable, and how this has significantly impacted U. S. democracy. --Library Journal ReviewHiding in Plain Sight isn' t just about Trump, but about how crumbling democracies intent on rolling back the freedoms of its citizens create perfect conditions for the rise of dangerous autocrats. --Bitch Magazine, 2020 Nonfiction PreviewDazzling --The Chicago Daily HeraldImpeccably researched. . . This comprehensive, page-turning account presents a stark and uncompromising indictment of the Trump presidency as the culmination of a ' decades-long erosion of American stability, integrity, and democracy. --Publishers WeeklyIf you only read one journalistic account of Donald Trump' s America make sure it is Sarah Kendzior' s Hiding in Plain Sight. --The Socialist ReviewA scathing indictment of Donald Trump. . . Kendzior offers fresh views based on her experiences living in the declining economy of the Midwest and on observations as an academic researcher studying dictatorships in the former Soviet Union. . . . . A passionate call for immediate action against the ' transnational crime syndicate' that has supplanted the U. S. government. --KirkusHer highly readable and well-documented new narrative explains the development of an elite criminal network in America, how digital media has shaped repression and protest, and how globalization has allowed the proliferation of organized crime. --National Review of BooksSarah Kendzior brings her unique perspective to bear in her engaging new book. --The Arts FuseThis is about our country. Irrelevant of whether you consider yourself to be on the right or the left. . . . Sarah has blown the whistle. The rich have gotten richer, the government has been stripped and the powerful are ever more so. You want to believe someone is on your page. That there' s someone to listen to, to inspire you. . . That' s Sarah Kendzior. --Bob Lefsetz, The Lefsetz LetterAn elegantly written, unforgiving, trenchant bit of political analysis. --Inside HigherEdSarah Kendzior' s Hiding in Plain Sight should be required reading prior to the 2020 election. It shows the decline of American politics into the corruption that inhabits the Oval Office today. . . . By giving us a clear eyed view of what we' re up against, Sarah Kendzior has given us cause to continue the fight. --PrimmLifePraise for The View from Flyover CountryA New York Times Bestseller An NPR Best Book of the Year 2018 Both prescient and honest. . . seeing the roots of the arguments that now dominate cable news is both fascinating and a little bit haunting in retrospect. --NPRKendzior' s prose is sharp and consistent whether the essay is data dense or an opinion piece. She maneuvers through big issues with a pace and clarity that makes unpalatable topics fascinating, and unfortunately, relatable. -- Hyperallergic"The defining journalistic account of Trump' s America does complain, but it isn' t best-selling gossip fodder like Michael Wolff' s Fire and Fury or James Comey' s A Higher Loyalty. It' s the book from the Midwestern journalist who barely mentions the president' s name. " --Record-EagleSharply written pieces about life and inequality in middle America. --Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, 85 Books for Summer ReadingAn academic, Midwesterner and firebrand, Kendzior crafts work that looks unflinchingly at what ails the country. --Shelf Awareness, starred reviewIt' s a call to arms, highlighting the struggles of disenfranchised, overworked, and underpaid Americans, and urging our elected officials to recognize and address the inequalities that have become even more pronounced since when she originally wrote the essays. --The Village VoiceThe View From Flyover Country is well worth reading. . . . Here is a thoughtful critic who knows how to sound the alarm. --The Arts FuseKendzior' s essays bring to light social injustice and economic inequality in Middle America from a voice that lives there. --Medium"The talented Kendzior. . . writes intelligently and with great empathy about problems faced by the Midwest. " --New York Post"Kendzior' s writing, while often concise and clever like this, is just as often backed by statistics, attributions or an illustrative profile. . . Though her message is alarming, it is softened with compassion. " --St. Louis Post-Dispatch"An astonishment and a challenge to convention for all sorts of reasons. . . [One of the] books devoted to where we really were not very long ago, where we are now and where we might well be going. They don' t mess around. They play rough. But then the truth almost always does. " --Buffalo NewsFrom Russia to flyover country, Sarah Kendzior might be the voice we need. --Columbia Journalism ReviewHers is a crystalline voice of reason and appraisal in a world that shifts further into unrecognizable territory minute-by-minute. -- Carol Haggas, BooklistA collection of sharp-edged, humanistic pieces about the American heartland. . . Passionate pieces that repeatedly assail the inability of many to empathize and to humanize. -- Kirkus"Urgent and beautifully expressed . . . What makes Kendzior' s writing so truly important [is that] it documents where the problem lies, by somebody who lives there. Read her. " --THE WIRE"Kendzior is no psychic. She' s just whip-smart and an expert on authoritarian governments. She' s also that rare writer with an analyst' s brain and an empath' s heart. . . Though the essays are topical and political. . . one senses they' ll stand the test of time, just for the beauty of the prose and the soundness of the philosophy. " --STEFENE RUSSELL, ST. LOUIS MAGAZINE
Sarah Kendzior is the New York Times bestselling author of Hiding in Plain Sight and The View from Flyover Country. She has a PhD in anthropology from Washington University in St. Louis, where she researched propaganda and state crimes in authoritarian regimes. She is the co-host of the acclaimed podcast Gaslit Nation with Andrea Chalupa and was named by Foreign Policy as one of the "100 people you should be following on Twitter to make sense of global events. " Her reporting has been featured in many publications, including NBC News, The Guardian, The Atlantic, Fast Company, The Chicago Tribune, TeenVogue, The Globe and Mail, and The New York Times. She lives in St. Louis.

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