Conspiracy Theories

Katel, Peter. "Conspiracy Theories: Do they threaten democracy?" CQ Researcher 23 Oct. 2009.
President Barack Obama is a foreign-born radical plotting to establish a dictatorship. His predecessor, George W. Bush, allowed the Sept. 11 attacks to occur in order to justify sending U.S. troops to Iraq. The federal government has plans to imprison political dissenters in detention camps in the United States. Welcome to the world of conspiracy theories. Since colonial times, conspiracies both far-fetched and plausible have been used to explain trends and events ranging from slavery to why U.S. forces were surprised at Pearl Harbor. In today's world, the communications revolution allows conspiracy theories to be spread more widely and quickly than ever before. But facts that undermine conspiracy theories move less rapidly through the Web, some experts worry. As a result, there may be growing acceptance of the notion that hidden forces control events, leading to eroding confidence in democracy, with repercussions that could lead Americans to large-scale withdrawal from civic life, or even to violence.
From the CQ Researcher. Reprinted with permission from CQ Press.

Books

Ebrary

Search by Subject: Conspiracy OR Conspiracies - 7 titles including:
Fenster, Mark. Conspiracy Theories: Secrecy and Power in American Culture. University of Minnesota Press, 2008.

Articles

EBSCOhost

Subject: Conspiracy Theories and (psych* or paranoia or belief) - 25+ full text articles

SU Conspiracy Theories and KW (united states or america*) - 150+ full text articles

ProQuest

(conspiracy theor* or truthers) AND (9/11 or "september 11") - 900+ full text articles

(conspiracy theor* or birthers) AND (obama) - 400+ full text articles

Web

Snopes.com - collects and classifies "urban legends but also common fallacies, misinformation, old wives' tales, strange news stories, rumors, celebrity gossip."

Factcheck.org - "..monitor(s) the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews and news releases."