Kathryn Olmsted: “Just Because You’re Paranoid Doesn’t Mean They’re Not Out to Get You”

Kathryn Olmsted
Professor of History, UC Davis

“Just Because You’re Paranoid Doesn’t Mean They’re Not Out to Get You: Anti-Government Conspiracy Theories in American History”

Kathryn Olmsted is author of multiple books on U.S. and California history, including Challenging the Secret Government: The Post-Watergate Investigations of the CIA and FBI (1996), Real Enemies: Conspiracy Theories and American Democracy, World War I to 9/11 (2009), and Right Out of California: The 1930s and the Big Business Roots of Modern Conservatism (2015). Her research develops one of the central themes of 20th-century U.S. history: the influence of anticommunism on American politics and policy.

Nick Schou and Ben Collins: “Contemporary and Classic Conspiracy Theories”

Nick Schou, Managing Editor, OC Weekl
Ben Collins, Senior News Editor at The Daily Beast

“Contemporary and classic conspiracy theories: a journalistic perspective”

Ben Collins is the co-host of Truther, a weekly podcast from The Daily Beast’s Erin Gloria Ryan, Ben Collins and Gideon Resnick that explores how conspiracies get started as they happen. In addition, Collins regularly covers conspiracy theories as part of his work atThe Daily Beast, having covered Alex Jones, Pizza Gate, NASA’s slave colony on Mars, and the widespread belief in “crisis actors.” His work has appeared in The Daily Beast, Esquire, and The Boston Globe among other places.

Award-winning investigative journalist Nick Schou is managing editor of OC Weekly. He is the author of Kill the Messenger: How the CIA’s Crack Cocaine Controversy Destroyed Journalist Gary Webb (Nation Books 2006), which provided the basis for the 2014 Focus Features release starring Jeremy Renner, and the Los Angeles Times bestseller Orange Sunshine: The Brotherhood of Eternal Love’s Quest to bring Peace, Love and Acid to the World (Thomas Dunne 2009). He is also the author of The Weed Runners (2013) and Spooked: How the CIA Manipulates the Media and Hoodwinks Hollywood (2016).