Jewish Space Lasers
The Rothschilds and 200 Years of Conspiracy Theories
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $25.99
Publisher Description
With the current rise of antisemitism, this important book looks at how one Jewish family —the Rothschilds—became a lightning rod for the conspiracy theories of the last two centuries, and how those theories are still very much alive today.
In 2018 Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene took to social media to share her suspicions that the California wildfires were started by ‘space solar generators’ which were funded by powerful, mysterious backers. Instantly, thousands of people rallied around her, blaming the fires on “Jewish space lasers” and, ultimately, the Rothschild family.
For more than 200 years, the name "Rothschild" has been synonymous with two things: great wealth, and conspiracy theories about what they're "really doing" with it. Almost from the moment Mayer Amschel Rothschild and his sons emerged from the Jewish ghetto of Frankfurt to revolutionize the banking world, the Rothschild family has been the target of myths, hoaxes, bizarre accusations, and constant, virulent antisemitism. Over the years, they have been blamed for everything from the sinking of the Titanic, to causing the Great Depression, and even creating the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jewish Space Lasers: The Rothschilds and 200 Years of Conspiracy Theories is a deeply researched dive into the history of the conspiracy industry around the Rothschild family - from the "pamphlet wars" of Paris in the 1840s to the dankest pits of the internet today. Journalist and conspiracy theory expert Mike Rothschild, who isn't related to the family, sorts out myth from reality to find the truth about these conspiracy theories and their spreaders. Who were the Rothschilds? Who are they today? Do they really own $500 trillion and every central bank, in addition to “controlling the British money supply?” Is any of this actually true? And why, even as their wealth and influence have waned, do they continue to drive conspiracies and hoaxes?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Journalist Rothschild (The Storm Is Upon Us) delves into the swirl of antisemitic rumors that have surrounded the Rothschild banking dynasty since the 18th century in this tenacious inquiry. Rothschild, who is of no relation to his subjects, shows how Mayer Rothschild's unprecedented financial success while living in the Jewish ghetto of Frankfurt, coupled with his sons' founding of equally successful financial businesses in London, Naples, Paris, and Vienna, became a focus of antisemitic hatred in the 18th and 19th centuries. Among other myths, Rothschild debunks the idea that the family profited off early knowledge, transmitted to London via a network of family agents, about the outcome the Battle of Waterloo by purchasing depressed British government bonds and thus making a fortune when news of the victory reached the public at large. The author not only discounts the more obviously antisemitic embellishments found in some versions of the story but disproves that the entire incident, which is still recounted in popular histories, took place at all. Rothschild focuses on how a "conspiracy theory industry" has grown around the family, beginning with anonymous 18th-century pamphleteers, but also reveals how more legitimate sources have created narratives that formed the foundation of later conspiracies; for example, the author points out that several anti-Rothschild tropes may have originated with Honore de Balzac, who satirized his patron James de Rothschild repeatedly in his work. The result is a patient and painstaking invalidation of antisemitism that also highlights its perniciousness.
Customer Reviews
Why do people hate Jews so much
4.5 stars
The author is an American journalist, who specialises in conspiracy theories and theorists. His last book was about QAnon. While no relation of the European banking family, I sense he has been miscast as one over the years despite lacking the pecuniary credentials.
The writing is crisp, the historical research comprehensive. I knew most of the highlights (antisemitism through the centuries, the Battle of Waterloo, Bank of England etc), but learned considerable detail about which I was ignorant previously. In the final chapters, the author explores the life and times of George Soros, the modern day successor to the Rothschilds in public perception at least.
Mr R’s concise retelling of historical facts would probably have passed into obscurity unnoticed if not for help from an unlikely source. In 2018, while he was doing his research, outspoken US Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (MTG) tweeted that California wildfires had been started by “solar space generators” funded by powerful, mysterious backers. Thousands piled in and by the end of the day “Jewish space lasers” funded by, you guessed it, the Rothschilds, was the number one topic on Twitter. No advertising company could have come up with a better title to drive sales of a book. Those seeking MTG-style controversy will be disappointed, but anyone interested in actual history will not.