Conspiracy

In 2007, a short blogpost on Valleywag, the Silicon Valley-vertical of Gawker Media, outed PayPal founder and billionair... (more)

In 2007, a short blogpost on Valleywag, the Silicon Valley-vertical of Gawker Media, outed PayPal founder and billionaire investor Peter Thiel as gay. Thiel's sexuality had been known to close friends and family, but he didn't consider himself a public figure, and believed the information was private. This post would be the casus belli for a meticulously plotted conspiracy that would end nearly a decade later with a $140 million dollar judgment against Gawker, its bankruptcy and with Nick Denton, Gawker's CEO and founder, out of a job. Only later would the world learn that Gawker's demise was not incidental--it had been masterminded by Thiel. For years, Thiel had searched endlessly for a solution to what he'd come to call the "Gawker Problem." When an unmarked envelope delivered an illegally recorded sex tape of Hogan with his best friend's wife, Gawker had seen the chance for millions of pageviews and to say the things that others were afraid to say. Thiel saw their publication of the tape as the opportunity he was looking for. He would come to pit Hogan against Gawker in a multi-year proxy war through the Florida legal system, while Gawker remained confidently convinced they would prevail as they had over so many other lawsuit--until it was too late. The verdict would stun the world and so would Peter's ultimate unmasking as the man who had set it all in motion. Why had he done this? How had no one discovered it? What would this mean--for the First Amendment? For privacy? For culture? In Holiday's masterful telling of this nearly unbelievable conspiracy, informed by interviews with all the key players, this case transcends the narrative of how one billionaire took down a media empire or the current state of the free press. It's a study in power, strategy, and one of the most wildly ambitious--and successful--secret plots in recent memory. -- (less)

"An exploration of President Nixon's contentious time in office, the Watergate scandal, and the people who helped protec... (more)

"An exploration of President Nixon's contentious time in office, the Watergate scandal, and the people who helped protect our Constitution"-- (less)

(more)

(more)

"The author discusses how we should think about conspiracy theories, who believes them and why, which conspiracy theorie... (more)

"The author discusses how we should think about conspiracy theories, who believes them and why, which conspiracy theories are likely to be true or false and what criteria we can use to assess them, and what we should do to combat dangerous conspiracism and reestablish trust in our democratic institutions, in the media, and in one another"-- (less)

(more)

"The author discusses how we should think about conspiracy theories, who believes them and why, which conspiracy theorie... (more)

"The author discusses how we should think about conspiracy theories, who believes them and why, which conspiracy theories are likely to be true or false and what criteria we can use to assess them, and what we should do to combat dangerous conspiracism and reestablish trust in our democratic institutions, in the media, and in one another"-- (less)

On January 20, 1942, 15 German officials attended a conference at Wannsee - on the outskirts of Berlin. The meeting comp... (more)

On January 20, 1942, 15 German officials attended a conference at Wannsee - on the outskirts of Berlin. The meeting comprised of mid-ranking SS commanders and a variety of government ministers. The meeting was organized by SS Major Adolf Eichmann under the direction of Chief of Security Reinhard Heydrich. It was a polite conference, but under this thin veneer of manners lay an evil intent. By the end of the meeting, the fate of six million lives would be decided and the shape of the world would be altered forever. (less)

Filled with extraordinary photographs, computer re-enactments, and astonishing revelations, Conspiracy? provides a gripp... (more)

Filled with extraordinary photographs, computer re-enactments, and astonishing revelations, Conspiracy? provides a gripping look at the life and death of the People's Princess. (less)

Australia was rocked in 1978 by the explosion of a massive bomb placed in a rubbish bin outside the Sydney Hilton Hotel.... (more)

Australia was rocked in 1978 by the explosion of a massive bomb placed in a rubbish bin outside the Sydney Hilton Hotel. A dramatic reinvestigation of this unsolved crime. On the 13th of February 1978 at 12:40 am, a massive bomb which had been placed in the rubbish bin outside the Sydney Hilton Hotel exploded, devastating a whole city block. Three people were killed and seven seriously injured. The noise of the explosion could be heard as far way as Bondi Beach.. At the time, the Australian Prime Minister and eleven visiting heads of state were resident in the Hilton Hotel. Right from the beginning the police said it was a terrorist conspiracy. They claimed the Ananda Marga religious sect was responsible. But for ten years, no person or group claimed responsibility, and the police by their own admission could find no evidence - not even enough to question anybody. At the same time, former police constable Terry Griffiths, a victim of the bomb blast, campaigned for a full and open inquiry. While recovering from his horrific injuries Griffiths received information which alleged it was the security forces themselves who were responsible for the blast, part of a sinister official conspiracy.. Through a series of stylised re-enactments and studio interviews Conspiracy tells the gripping and dramatic story of the Sydney Hilton Hotel bombing. A huge security operation had been mounted for what was the first Commonwealth Heads of Government Regional Meeting and yet the bombers somehow slipped through the cordon. Was the bomb itself made in a commonwealth government laboratory? Was a bomb disposal unit waiting nearby as part of a pre-arranged plan? Why were the Army bomb sniffer dogs called off just a few days before? Was there a police observation vehicle watching the hotel and did someone from that vehicle make the bomb warning call? Why were almost all of the bomb fragments simply swept up and thrown away? And why was a rubbish bin in a high security area left unchecked and unguarded? It is many years since these questions were first raised. Now they are being asked in Federal parliament. (less)