Recommended by a friend who has been a long time listener of the podcast. Enjoyed the deep dive into the spirituality/far-right conspiracies, despite this overlap being quite worrisome (imo). And the internet & influencer culture… ( )

Conspirituality, by Derek Beres, Matthew Remski, and Julian Walker, is a well-researched and very accessible account of how New Age spirituality and right-wing conspiracy theorists have become allies.

The writing is neither dry nor dense, unless by dense you mean full of interesting stories and important facts. If you're bored, it likely means the text hits too close to home and it is easier to dismiss it than be honest with yourself. It is the combination of the writers' own experiences, the experiences of those they have spoken to, and input from specialists that makes this an engaging read.

The importance of this book can't be overstated, not only is the fabric of society being torn apart by an extreme us vs them mentality, but lives are being ruined and/or lost as a direct result of the economic con game being run by these influencers and carnival barkers. The us vs them aspect is not just on the side of these conspiritualists, their actions have led many who don't subscribe to their beliefs to also adopt the same framework.

Most of us know someone who is at least partially under the broad umbrella covered by the term, and in addition to trying to understand the phenomenon, we also have to figure out how or even if we want to engage or simply remove these people from our circles. Removal had always been my choice, but that was when there weren't so many people choosing fantasy over reality. Now, dismissing a large chunk of the population is not only difficult but also considerably more dangerous. These are people who will consider violence against rational thinkers a necessary action, they are dangerous and have lost contact with reality, a scary combination.

Recommended for those readers who want to better understand this strange coupling of groups, especially those who want to figure out a way to keep an open door between the two worlds so things don't explode.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley. ( )