Perhaps this might be of interest to Illuminatus! fans? Jesse Walker, an expert on the subject himself, pens a review of The Hidden History of Conspiracy Theory by Andrew McKenzie-McHarg. declaring the book " the most original study of the subject to come along in years."
McKenzie-McHarg, an Austalian historian, researches the history of the term "conspiracy theory" and related terms. But Jesse adds, "But this book is also about what we mean by such terms, and how those different meanings have intersected with one another."
As Jesse writes, McKenzie-McHarg finds an actual Illuminati double agent. "Convinced that the secret society was still active in the 1790s—or, at the very least, convinced that it was useful to have people believe the Illuminati were still active—Grolman decided to form a secret 'counter-association' against that 'devilish union.' "
The book also has a chapter on Carl Oglesby, the historian discussed by Robert Anton Wilson who discussed recent American history as a battle between competing conspiracies, the Yankees and the Cowboys.
And I have a bonus link: LitHub has just published McKenzie-McHarg's chapter on Carl Oglesby from the book! Or at least an article adapted from the book. So if you've read what RAW wrote about Oglesby, you can read an interesting article. Carl Oglesby's son pops up in the comments.
Jesse's own book, The United States of Paranoia: A Conspiracy Theory, remains available.
Mr. McKenzie-McHarg's internet biographies are (perhaps appropriately) confusing, but the just-published Lit Hub article says he is at the "Bibliotheca Hertziana–Max Planck Institute for Art History in Rome."
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