David Aaronovitch

From Pearl Harbor to 9/11 to the assassination of JFK to the Birthers, Aaronvitch probes and explores the major conspiracy theories (and theorists) of our time. In doing so, he examines why people believe these conspiracies, and makes an argument for a true skepticism.

The Role of the Conspiracy Theory in Shaping Modern History

Voodoo Histories

Yanis Varoufakis

Karl Marx

Friedrich Engels

Communist Manifesto

'An affectionate and insightful account of 20th-century history that also amounts to a manifesto for the power of words - and belonging.' Helen Davies, a Sunday Times Book of the Year In July 1961, just before David Aaronovitch's seventh birthday, Yuri Gagarin came to London. The Russian cosmonaut was everything the Aaronovitch family wished for - a popular and handsome embodiment of modern communism. But who were they, these ever hopeful, defiant and (had they but known it) historically doomed people? Like a non-magical version of the wizards of J. K. Rowling's world, they lived secretly with and parallel to the non-communist majority, sometimes persecuted, sometimes ignored, but carrying on their own ways and traditions. Where others went to church they went to Socialist Sunday School, society's up was their down and its heroes were their villains. Who wanted American TV when you could have Russian movies? A memoir of early life among communists, Party Animals first took David Aaronovitch back through his own memories of belief and action. But there was much more to it. He found himself studying the old secret service files, uncovering the unspoken shame and fears that provided the unconscious background to his own existence as a party animal. Only then did he begin to understand what had come before - both the obstinate heroism and the monstrous cowardice. And the elements that shape our fondest beliefs.

My Family and Other Communists

Party Animals

How Conspiracy Theory Has Shaped Modern History

In this text, David Aaronovitch, the award-winning columnist and broadcaster, canoes round the waterways and canals of England on the eve of the new Millennium.

David Aaronovitch

About

Books

Join the club