A Hoax on the Profit-Drive to America’s Endless Wars
Phil Tinline, Ghosts of Iron Mountain: The Hoax of the Century, Its Enduring Impact, and What It Reveals About America Today (New York: Scribner, March 25, 2025). EBook: $29.99. 352pp. ISBN: 978-1-668050-49-1.
*****
“Investigative journalism that explores the surprising origins and hidden ramifications of an epic late 1960s hoax, perpetrated by cultural luminaries, including Victor Navasky and E.L. Doctorow. For readers curious about the surprising connections between John F. Kennedy, Oliver Stone, Timothy McVeigh, Alex Jones, and Donald Trump. Delve into the labyrinth of America’s conspiracy culture… unearths the roots of our era’s most potent myths. In 1966, amid unrest over the Vietnam War and the alarming growth of the military-industrial complex, little-known writer Leonard Lewin was approached by a group of ingenious satirists on the Left to concoct a document that would pretend to ratify everyone’s fears that the government was deceiving the public. Devoting more than a year to the project, Lewin constructed a fiction (passed off as the honest truth) that a government-run Study Group had been charged with examining the ‘cost of peace,’ setting its first meetings in the very real Iron Mountain nuclear bunker in upstate New York (which lent the resulting book, Report from Iron Mountain, its name). In Lewin’s telling, this gathering of the nation’s academic elite concluded that suspending war would be disastrous, forcing all sorts of bizarre measures to compensate. Lewin didn’t realize it at the time, but he’d created a narrative that fed the interests of both ends of the political spectrum—by promoting the idea that the government uses centralized power for evil… It explodes into America’s consciousness, dominates media reports, and sends government officials scrambling. And then, subsequently, how Lewin’s fabrication is adopted by a seemingly endless string of extremist organizations which view it as supporting their ideology. In this riveting—and, at times, chilling—tale of a deception that refuses to die is an unsettling warning about how, in contemporary times, a hoax may no longer be a hoax if it can be used to recruit followers to a cause.”
A common application in writing of believable lies is in hoaxes: either a humorous or a malicious deception. In 1966, Leonard Lewin was contracted by leftist satirists to write a report that described with theory, and some established facts that the Vietnam War had to be continued indefinitely because the “cost of peace” was greater than its benefits. This report was attributed as an official political document that resulted from secret meetings of a “government-run Study Group”. In other words, Lewin “masterly” created “a false document that would be taken for the truth.” Though only details regarding who designed this strategy and where were false, whereas the believable truth was that Johnson’s government was churning out similar reports to convince themselves war was necessary. This concept was inspired by the box-office success of Dr. Strangelove in 1964, which satirically exaggerated the insane desire to see nuclear annihilation among “men controlling America’s nuclear weapons”. This led to unfunny satires that were “logically extending a premise to its totally insane conclusion, thus forcing onto an audience… unwelcome awareness”. Exaggerating and twisting the simple truth that America’s elite have been profiteering from endless wars creates appealing entertainment that seems to be designed to convince the audience such profiteering is mad, while also glorifying the desire for violence. There is a wide range of activities that can be classified as hoaxes. For example, calling the Institute for Historical Review by this innocuous name is a “hoax” because it “wasn’t a scholarly institution”, but rather “America’s primary promoters of Holocaust Denial”. The inaccurate application of names can trick readers into believing sources that sound scholarly, but are instead hostile propagandistic falsehood generators. One defense such hoaxers tend to use when cornered is to “falsely accuse” their “opponent of lying before they can truthfully accuse” them. There is a blurred line between hoaxes that maliciously deceive and crimes of deception, such as forging false identifications, or printing false currency. And a hoax is frequently both a deception and criminal. A fiction writer should avoid selling their fiction as true reports because this is where they cross into libel, treason, fabrication of official documents, or other charges. On the other hand, some fantastic fiction can be generated by following these same techniques to imagine a hoax, while labeling it honestly as a lie on its cover. One of the promoters of the Report was E. L. Doctorow who defended his later history-fiction blending novel, Ragtime (1975) with an essay on “False Documents”. Doctorow argued that what is labeled as factual-writing, including journalism and history, is a type of “regime language” because history is “a kind of fiction” generated by the regime for its propagation. Both fiction and nonfiction were on the “narrative” spectrum without a clearly definable line between them. History is frequently fictional either because a writer invents details regarding things nobody knows the truth about (such as things that happened before writing was invented), or propagandists spin the little that is known to make it seem as if their side is “good” and “won” a conflict. Thus, historic-fiction writers might be doing as much lie-telling as the original newspaper reporters who might have described events without in fact observing what happened, or having documented facts to rely on. Fiction is “the language of freedom” by which the mind must be “shocked, seduced, and otherwise provoked out of its habitual stupor”. Well-written history tends to be as shocking and seductive as well-written fiction. Exaggeration and distortion are what turn the mundane into the exciting.
There are many interesting revelations across this book. There are sections about the guy who shot JFK (with notes that he faked his ID, and committed other petty frauds in his youth; the unlikelihood of Lee Harvey Oswald having been helped by others, and not acting alone has been equated as a hoax to this Iron Mountain hoax), and about the Oklahoma City Bomber (with explanations about how he was helped by radio-program wielding propagandists to direct the narrative of what this bombing meant).
This is just a very intense book with a lot of enticing side-stories. I did not notice any pointless digressions. Though there is a lot of theory, and quotes from people discussing the nature of lying. This helped me because I am writing a book about lying. Those who are similarly interested in the theory behind propaganda will be similarly interested. This is a good book for libraries of different types to have to allow readers access to its insights.
Pennsylvania Literary Journal: Spring 2025 issue: https://anaphoraliterary.com/journals/plj/plj-excerpts/book-reviews-spring-2025

This book completely blew my mind.

I will admit I really struggled with this book at the beginning [I was so confused PLUS it was a bit dryer than I was anticipating], and thought about DNF'ing, but then, something clicked, I got what was going on, and then just blew through the rest of it. And then sat, gobsmacked at it all.

The fact that a book of satire, written in 1967, could be taken as gospel truth [even as everyone involved denied it was truth, that it was indeed satire and that the author made every single thing up] is mind-blowing enough, but to see how this ONE book, all these years later, STILL affects so many people [including many who have been in the news over the years; this part will just have you going "WHAT IN THE WORLD" over and over] and is linked to many things currently happening [yes I am being vague. Yes that means you need to read the book. Or, just find a spoiler-y review to dive into] is just so gobsmackingly insane and I am still in wonder over it all.

I am so glad that I was able to stick with and finish this book; what a crazy ride of a read.

Thank you to NetGalley, Phil Tinline, and Scribner for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A history of a strange hoax that has hopped from both sides of the political spectrum, how it came to be, and how both the right and left have adopted and interpreted it. It’s a sad fact when it comes to publishing: how you can’t control which people read it, how it is interpreted, and the impact it has, and of course, once it’s out there, it will always be out there.

It demonstrates the bizarre overlap between the right and left in many ways. Both agree that there’s a sliver of the population, a minority if you will, leeching off the system and making war for the sake of profit; we just disagree on who this minority is, and it’s that disagreement that makes all the difference.

Ghost Of Iron Mountain: The hoax of the century, It’s enduring impact and what it says about America today by Phil 10 line, this is a book about a group of friends who got together and put out a comedic narrative about a secret society that thought the only way to be economically healthy was to have war because peace produce no profits. being someone who reads the small print I found nothing shocking about people believing this was a real credible book and that there really was a shady organization in Stone Mountain making decisions about what was best for America but mostly themselves
. There were many quotable statements in this book but the thing that struck me the most with that for those who believe this book isn’t having an impact on life today the president of the United States in his first term talked about getting rid of the deep state and clearing the swamp… If that means nothing to you you really should do your homework. This was a great book an awesome investigation we found out who really built the bunker how the book came about and the background of those who wrote it, not to mention the real world impact its head on America but don’t take my word for it read the book.#NetGalley, #HeadOfZeusPublishing, #TheBlindReviewer, #MyHonestReview, #PhilTinline, #GhostOfIronMountain,

My thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for an advance copy of this book that looks at the history of a joke, a parody of American political thinking, one that seemed so real, so authentic that it has become the basis of paranoid thought and conspiracies ever since.

America is a country that loves its fiction. Land of the free home of the brave. Where a man can pull himself up by his bootstraps and make something of himself, as long as they are white, women and minorities need not apply. The history that we are taught is based on myth, cherry trees, war of northern aggression, and what ever the Department of Education working with Texas Schoolbook developers will be making now. We not only print the legend, we belief the legend. Even though we can trace this legends down, and call shenanigans on them. One of the biggest myths started with that most American of reasons, to make money. This myth was so banal, so governmental, even with some obvious parody, that the myth became the history for a lot of people. Leading to militia groups, children being bombed and criminals getting into office. This book looks at how we got to here. Ghosts of Iron Mountain: The Hoax of the Century, Its Enduring Impact, and What It Reveals About America Today by journalist and author Phil Tinline, is a look at the origin of a book, used to keep a magazine afloat, that has become something much bigger and darker, a ghost that still haunts us today.

The mid-60's was a far darker period in American history than most people today realize. The myth of American exceptionalism was being torn away. A president had been killed, a war was on that no one seemed to think was being handled well. Some wanted it ended, some wanted to use nukes. Protesters were being beaten in the streets, police were militarized like troops in third world countries. The word credibility gap was used to describe what was being told by the government to the American people. In the midst of this a group of satirists working on a magazine called the Monocle, found themselves needing money. They had packaged book ideas, humor and other parodies, before, and a book might get them the cash, or in the parlance of the times bread, to keep things going. Leonard Lewin was a writer near the end of his dream, thinking of leaving the city and going back home. Approached Lewin was at first wary, than found it hard to create something. Soon an idea was hashed out, and a document, supposedly a leak from the government about an unknown committee was created. This committee discussed the idea that war was good for the economy, and peace was not. Without a state of permanent war, the American way of life would be threatened. Released by Dial Press this book, Report from Iron Mountain, soon took on a life of its own, no matter how many people, including well known people, decried it for the parody it was. A parody that fit the doomset of many American minds, and became the basis for their war against what the American dream was becoming.

I first read the book Report from Iron Mountain, years ago, found in a book store in the history section. I was confused as it said clearly on the front it was a parody, but at the time I was reading a lot of different conspiracy books for a college paper, and thought well that is what they want you to think. The book seems like a real report, with an interview from the whistleblower that seems real, and a report that reads like government work. Except for a lot ow odd comments. I love the fact that the Johnson administration had no idea if this was real report, as Tinline writes. This is a really interesting book, loaded with information about the era, the book was written, and how paranoid and doomsday thought was always been with us. Tinline covers the creation, the reception of the book, the people who developed and help write it and the strange afterlife the book has had, quoted as gospel by militia groups and fringe thinkers for almost 50 years. Tinline has done an incredible amount of research, and write quite well, balancing both the jokers, the politicians, and the extremists quite well.

If one wants to understand America one can start here, and get a very good grasp of how the American mind can be so easily confused, and even more fused with anything that adds to their worldview that someone, somewhere is plotting to keep them down, or under control. Even if it was a bunch of ivy league kids looking for a quick cash infusion. A book that makes one think, and wonder about the fate of our country.

Thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for a free eARC of this!

In 1966 a group of satirists came to with the idea to write a report about a study-group they met in the nuclear bunker in Iron Mountain. This study-group went over what would be the “cost of peace”. Leonard Lewis authors the fake report and publishes it. It’s a hoax. The problem is, a lot of people think it’s legit, and it spawns LOTS of conspiracies, and major events that have impact on our country.

This was a good read. I find the Cold War to be such a fascinating era of our country. This was very well written, and well researched.

I received a free copy of, Ghosts of Iron Mountain, by Phil Tinline, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. In the 1960's when the US was in enough turmoil with the Vietnam war, a man decides to lie about the government. There are people out there who will believe anything, and there are people out there who will do anything, for attention. I did not like the premise of this book, but it was well written.

This was a fantastic true crime nonfiction book, it does a great job in bringing the hoax to life. It had that researched element that I was looking for and enjoyed the feel of this book. Phil Tinline has a strong writing style and was glad I read this.