"There is a hunger for conspiracy news in America. Hundreds of Internet websites, magazines, newsletters, even entire publishing houses, disseminate information on invisible enemies and their secret activities, subversions, and coverups. Those who suspect conspiracies behind events in the news - the crash of TWA Flight 800, the death of Marilyn Monroe - join generations of Americans, from the colonial period to the present day, who have entertained visions of vast plots.

In this book Robert Goldberg focuses on five major conspiracy theories of the past half-century, examining how they became widely popular in the United States and why they have remained so."--BOOK JACKET.