Mike Rothschild

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Jewish Space Lasers: The Rothschilds and 200 Years of Conspiracy Theories by Mike Rothschild debunks the conspiracy theories surrounding specifically the Rothschild family specifically, and the Jewish people generally. Mr. Rothschild is a season journalist, conspiracy theory expert, and investigative reporter.

As a political junky, and a technologist I got very interested in misinformation and disinformation the last several years. Some of the books were very enlightening, and I’m always happy to learn more.

The book looks at one of the most prominent Jewish families in the world. The word “Rothschild”, to many, is synonymous with the obscenely rich Jews wielding hidden power, instead of a family name. The fact that the Rothschild family itself has a policy not to address these

Over centuries, and probably millenniums, people loved to blame the rich for their own miserable lives, and not much has changed. Add to that rabid antisemitism and you get a fertile ground for conspiracy theories which have festered in our society, and crossed oceans, to this day.

Jewish Space Lasers by Mike Rothschild (no relation) researches and debunks many of these conspiracy theories. The notion that the Rothschilds own the Federal Reserve, made money from both sides of every war, were hidden puppet-masters, and more. The author goes back centuries to find out where these started, and if there is any truth behind them. Unfortunately, many of these falsehoods have been so prominent that they’ve became “fact” by historians including them in their books.

This is why I don’t begrudge many who believe these conspiracy theories. Who has the time to go research things where are “facts” for all intents and purposes. Going back centuries just to figure out that a serious historian included a conspiracy theory without checking. This reminds me of Stacy Schiff’s excellent book about Cleopatra, where she discovered that many other biographers used Shakespeare’s plays about her as a primary source.

The books is very interesting, well-written, and provides useful information for those who wish to counter-argue people who spout these falsehoods.
But beware – you’re not going to make any friends, be appreciated, and most likely not change any minds since believing in such nonsense usually have an underlying resentment to begin with.… (meer)

This book was, overall, as neat and concise a description of the “Qanon” conspiracy theory / movement as one could hope to find on such a sprawling, contradictory, and dense subject. In its best moments the author manages to write empathetically about people caught up in Qanon while also highlighting how Q is destructive and harmful to its adherents and everyone else. Unfortunately, some stilted writing and repetitive elements and phrases, hold this book back. However, as an introduction to this most complex and impactful of conspiracy theories it’s a great resource. This book would be particularly useful to a reader with a loved one who’s fallen down the Qanon rabbit hole.… (meer)