Everyone loves a good conspiracy. From the Jonestown massacre and the Philadelphia experiment to Nazi gold and the moon landing, there are umpteen conspiracy theories that even the least sceptical of us can recall and discuss at length.

Entire libraries have been furnished and internet forums filled with this cultural phenomenon in which complex threads are weaved together to explain seismic events in our recent history. Indeed, there are few things more captivating than a well-research, convincing argument that flies in the face of perceived knowledge. So follow Jon E. Lewis down the rabbit hole and look at our political system from a different perspective.

Controversies include:

- Bar Codes - Can it really be that these codes apparently indicate 666; the mark of the devil and his coming cashless economy?
- The Bilderberg Group - An annual polite discussion on current affairs or a forum in which policy with worldwide implications is shaped?
- Bohemian Grove - To some, this is a private camping site dubbed 'the greatest men's party on earth', while other's regard it as opportunity to win friends in high places and to secure jobs or contracts. What really goes on at Bohemian Grove when the elite gather?
- Bush-Bin Laden Connection - Is it possible that George W. Bush made errors of judgement pre 9/11 because of his family's ties to the Bin Laden's? Is it possible that 9/11 could have been prevented?
- Cancer - Is there a cancer cure which is being suppressed by pharmaceutical companies and the medical establishments to keep their multibillion-dollar industry thriving?
- Club of Rome - Is it true that the Club of Rome wish to use war, disease and famine as the main ways to eliminate "useless eaters"?
- Jonestown - Was this a mass suicide, or was it mass murder intended to cover-up mind-control experiments?
- 1969 Moon Landing Hoax - Were all the Apollo landings an astronomical hoax?
- Nazi Gold - Did US authorities turn a blind eye to $3 million stolen by its own troops?
- Philadelphia Experiment - Did the US Navy cover up invisibility experiments which went hideously wrong?
- Ronald Reagan - Did George Bush seek to assassinate Ronald Reagan?
- The Royal Institute of International Affairs- To what extent do they influence world agendas?
- Star Gate - What is the truth behind the CIA's psi-operations in the 1970s?


The Dead Sea Scrolls
Why was it so important these documents should not be seen? What ancient historical secret was so big that it had to be buried forever?

Freemasons
Is this group of seemingly innocuous middle-aged men linked to almost every evil perpetuated? Are they really just an eccentric bunch of patriarchal do-gooders, or are they in fact sinister agents of satanic forces?

The Gunpowder Plot
Why is it that we reserve particular scorn for Guy Fawkes when there were six other men involved?

Knights Templar
The Knights Templar allegedly found the Holy Grail in their excavations of the temple in Jerusalem. Did they survive the cull of the 14th century and live on today as guardians of the Holy Grail?

Opus Dei
If Opus Dei's only aims are charity and the 'sanctifying of work', why does it need its secretive independent status as a personal prelature?

Pope John Paul I
On the 26th August 1978 a new pope was elected. 33 days later this man was found dead, leaving an alarming trail of inconsistencies and seeming lies told by the Vatican themselves. Why was there no post-mortem, and why within twenty-four hours was his body embalmed?

The Priory of Sion
Does this French secret society protect the blood-line of Christ?

The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion
The truth behind the book in which powerful Jews supposedly set out the secret means to rule the Christian world.

The Rosicrucians
Does this philosophical secret society seek to take over the world?

Satanic Ritual Abuse
Satanists ritually abuse children and nobody has the power to prevent it due to their infiltration into the police force and politics.

The Temple Mount Plot
Are Freemason's and Jews collaborating in a plot to destroy Islamic holy sites on Jerusalem's Temple Mount?


Alien Abduction
Some 2,740 US citizens claim to have been abducted by aliens each day. That's an incredible 2% of a population of 300 million. Surely statistically some of these cases must bear truths?

Area 51
It is rumoured that Area 51 houses the UFO disc found at Roswell, as well as other crashed alien spaceships. What is the truth?

The Babylonian Brotherhood
Twelve-foot lizards from the planet Draco have colonized Earth and seek world domination.

Crop Circles
Made by intelligent beings from elsewhere, or earth-bound pranksters?

Face on Mars
Was the image of a humanoid face 1.5 miles long by 1 mile wide purposefully constructed or is it simply an accidental resemblance?

Hollow Earth
The Earth is hollow and houses a surreptitious advanced civilisation.

Majestic 12
Evidence found about a group of military officials, scientists and intelligence officials set up in 1962 to study alien technology. Legitimate or bogus?

Men in Black
Mysterious figures who seek to conceal UFO identity. They appear at a witness's house after a sighting and remove all physical evidence before threatening the witness to remain silent. Are they really government agents?

Nazi Moon Base
During the Second World War the Germans sent a successful mission to the moon, made a lunar station and built an underground base in Antarctica for space exploration research.

Project Bluebook
Since December 1969 there has been no official US government body actively investigating UFO sightings. But what about unofficially?

Rendlesham Forest
Did an alien spacecraft land at Rendlesham Forest in 1980?
Roswell
In 1947 an extra-terrestrial spacecraft with alien occupants landed in New Mexico. Allegedly, this event was covered up by the US military, but why?

Shag Harbour
In October 1967 an unidentified flying object was seen floating on the waters of Shag Harbour. Even following thorough investigation, no explanation has ever been given for this.


7/7
Is the government covering up evidence of bungling by the intelligence services before the 7/7 bombings in London?

9/11
Did George Bush stage the 9/11 attack, or at least purposefully allow for it to occur so he could generate support to invade Afghanistan for reasons linked to the oil industry? And was Flight 93 shot down on the order of the White House before it could reach its target? Or was it really al-Qaeda acting alone?

HAARP
It is said that HAARP camouflages the most destructive weapon ever created. Is it really possible that this is what this 33-acre site is concealing?

The Lockerbie Bombing
Initially it was assumed that Libya had a clear motive for the Lockerbie bombing, revenge for the 1986 US Air Force raid on the cities of Tripoli and Benghazi. But the truth is inevitably far more complex.
The Madrid Train Bombings
What is the truth behind this atrocity in Spain?

Oklahoma City Bombings
Is the fact that the FBI failed to investigate McVeigh's connections with the Militias, and the fact that they held back 3,000 pages of documents enough to prove the Oklahoma City bombing was orchestrated by them?

Pearl Harbor
Did President Franklin D. Roosevelt conspire to bring about the attack on US forces at Pearl Harbour?

The Port Chicago Explosion
What was the real cause of this explosion?

The Rainbow Warrior
French DGSE agents alleged to have sunk this Greenpeace ship. How much of this is true, and if it is, why did they do it?

Roberto Calvi
In 1982 "God's banker" was found dead, swinging from Blackfriars Bridge in London. As Calvi had been under enormous pressure it was assumed he had killed himself. But twenty years on, the case was reopened and revaluated, producing somewhat different findings.

The Sovereign Military Order of Malta
Does the Order moonlight as an intelligence broker?

TWA Flight 800
Why did this plane explode over the Atlantic?


This mammoth book brings together some of the modern world's most head-scratching deaths and disappearances, from the murder of rap royalty Tupac Shakur to Princess Diana's car crash in Paris, via the poisoning of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko and JFK's assassination.

Is it possible that prisoners of war remain left behind in Vietnam? Could the most famous musician in the world stage his own death and recede into an ordinary life? Investigating these quesitons and more, this book is an A-Z of unsolved mysteries, cover-ups, conspiracies and bizarre crimes, bringing together famous names as disparate as Tupac, Elvis, Dr David Kelly, Malcolm X and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.


Black Helicopters
Black helicopters are believed by some to be used for the surveillance of patriotic groups opposed to the takeover of the United States by foreign powers. Those sinister, silent, Black Hawk Down-style copters are hard to miss, but what exactly is their role?

The British Royal Family
According to Lyndon LaRouche, the British royal family are imperial masters of the planet. Is it possible that Satan lives in Buckingham Palace?

The Illuminati
So powerful are the Illuminati that they are said to mastermind events and completely control world affairs, but how much do we actually know about them?

Le Cercle
A transnational, clandestine cabal of influential individuals, the group prides itself on complete anonymity. Only a handful of articles are known to have been written about the group, so what do we really know about them?

MK-ULTRA
What went on under MK-ULTRA? And did anybody ever receive reasonable compensation?

New World Order
How powerful is this group that seek to enable a one-world government?

Omega Agency
The Omega Agency and its allies, the aliens, are devising a plan to restore the planet's environment after the OA take over New World Order dictatorship.

P2 (Propaganda Due)
Did P2 set out a plan for a fascist coup in which unions would be banned and the media would be placed under state control?

Skull and Bones
"It's so secret we can't talk about it," George W. Bush said on the membership of Skull & Bones. Does this organisation control the US?


By 1969, following the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu, over 500,000 US troops were 'in country' in Vietnam. Before America's longest war had ended with the fall of Saigon in 1975, 450,000 Vietnamese had died, along with 36,000 Americans. The Vietnam War was the first rock 'n' roll war, the first helicopter war with its doctrine of 'airmobility', and the first television war; it made napalm and the defoliant Agent Orange infamous, and gave us the New Journalism of Michael Herr and others. It also saw the establishment of the Navy SEALs and Delta Force. At home, America fractured, with the peace movement protesting against the war; at Kent State University, Ohio National Guardsmen fired on unarmed students, killing four and injuring nine.

Lewis's compelling selection of the best writing to come out of a war covered by some truly outstanding writers, both journalists and combatants, includes an eyewitness account of the first major battle between the US Army and the People's Army of Vietnam at Ia Drang; a selection of letters home; Nicholas Tomalin's famous 'The General Goes Zapping Charlie Cong'; Robert Mason's 'R&R', Studs Terkel's account of the police breaking up an anti-war protest; John Kifner on the shootings at Kent State; Ron Kovic's 'Born on the Fourth of July'; John T. Wheeler's 'Khe Sanh: Live in the V Ring'; Pulitzer Prize-winner Seymour Hersh on the massacre at My Lai; Michael Herr's 'It Made You Feel Omni'; Viet Cong Truong Nhu Tang's memoir; naval nurse Maureen Walsh's memoir, 'Burning Flesh'; John Pilger on the fall of Saigon; and Tim O'Brien's 'If I Die in a Combat Zone'.