Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 133
EAN: 9780330375467
Edition: New edition
ISBN: 0330375466
Label: Picador
Manufacturer: Picador
Number Of Pages: 250
Publication Date: February 08, 2002
Publisher: Picador
Studio: Picador

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Editorial Review:

Amazon.co.uk Review:
Journalist and broadcaster Jon Ronson's first book Them: Adventures With Extremists is a mostly hilarious, occasionally chastening romp through the shadowy world of paranoid conspiracists. It proves a neat conceit. Ronson, a consummate faux-naïf, inevitably treads similar ground to Louis Theroux, though perhaps with a lighter, more disingenuous patter, which sustains him in encounters that veer from the extraordinary to the mundane at dizzying pace, and blur the space between. He meets Omar, the infuriatingly likeable Islamic fundamentalist organising a jihad from a North London semi, despite a more real struggle with the reprographic world, and PR-conscious Klu Klux Klan leader, Thom Robb, who unaccountably has Jewish mannerisms. Others who allow Ronson to share a window in the life, and possibly into their soul, include David Icke, still believing that the world's ruling elite are descended from reptiles (no, really), Dr Ian Paisley, and Tony Kaye, a Hollywood director, determined to sabotage his own movie, American History X, rather than see it publicly released without his approval. These are easy pickings, but Ronson picks them with unobtrusive and gentle irony.

His main mission, though, is to track down the Bilderberg Group, who reputedly comprise the world's leading figures, and who, it is believed by the likes of Slobodan Milosevic, Saddam Hussein and "Soho Bomber" David Copeland, want to enforce global capitalism. As if. However, the alleged sighting of Peter Mandelson, attending a Bilderberg gathering, surely portends more for the British reader. Ronson's escapades--"I am a humorous journalist out of my depth", he informs the British Embassy in Portugal when his car is tailed--uncovers more truth than one would expect, though none greater than the depressing but crushingly realistic notion that even the most powerful public figures are, at play, little more than preppies or undergraduates, who enjoy worshipping owl effigies, wearing false breasts and urinating in public. Luckily, Ronson tires of the corkscrewing paranoia and subterfuge before the reader, leaving a rich impression of a world affirmingly varied and absurd, if endearingly familiar. But, having attended a Bilderberg meeting, perhaps he would, wouldn't he?--David Vincent




Rating: - Entertaining - better than the TV series
Reading this book is a bit like having the TV series on DVD; there's a lot more extras, and the commentary is a lot more in-depth.

This book is all about Jon Ronson (a cross between Woody Allen and Louie Theroux) and his travails as he interviews the world's leading conspiracy theorists. Like Louie Theroux he tends to sit back, play innocent and let his subjects talk themselves into a position of absurdity, but in the book we get more of a chance to read what it would be like to be in ... Read More

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Rating: - a little disorganised, but entertaining and insightful
I enjoyed this book. On the negative side, it is a little unstructured and hops around - the chronology is messy. That said, it is amusingly written, Ronson does a good job of maintaining some sang froid in the face of some more hot-blooded company, such as Alex Jones and Jim Tucker, and in the face of the madness of David Icke.

There is some insight into the world of the Bilderberg Group, and their nutty owl ceremonies. Ronson concludes with a view that I share - conspiracy theories ... Read More

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Rating: - Comic book, no investigative journalism here.
This is an amusing book. Thats it.
It makes Louis Therioux look like an indepth investigative journalist. At least Louis finds an insight into the characters.
Only the last few chapters offer anything interesting and thats just a peak into a redundant clique of wannabes and an interview with Edward Heath.
The author seems more interested in his own secular upbringing than the characters he meets.
For a 'so called' Cardiff boy we expect better.

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Rating: - Not bad, but lacks direction
It starts off with Jon himself hanging around with the jihad extremist Omar Bakri. This is an interesting start but I found Ronson's style a little slow but I laughed out loud a few times. The two most interesting parts of the book were the Bilderberg chapter and the lizard one with David Icke.
Where Ronson went wrong was to write chapters in the book that seemed irrelevent and which split the narrative structure up. The chapter about Dr Paisley was really awful and at this point I debated on putting ... Read More

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Rating: - Jon Ronson looks at global conspiracies, with some very surprising results
Jon Ronson's "Them" might be described as doing for extremist politicians what Louis Theroux has done to various celebrities. By adopting a harmless, understanding, intelligent and sympathetic persona, Ronson manages to position himself in the confidence of a fascinating selection of 'radicals'- from two different Ku Klux Klan leaders to David Icke- and shows his audience their caring, human, normal life, as well as exposing the true extents of their 'unusual' points of view.

No matter how ridiculous ... Read More

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