“When women get involved, a movement becomes a serious threat.”

This well-researched, thoughtful, and empathetic work not only answered many of my own questions about how so many women in my circles turned—seemingly overnight—into rabid conspiracists, but also provided me with ideas for how we might move forward as a nation so divided in the era of Trump 2.0. In this new landscape, those of us who live outside the world of conspiracy theories often only get glimpses of the ideology while being overwhelmed and confounded by the behavior. This results in the disintegration of our relationships, the isolation of the one following the conspiracies, and further hostility and suspicion toward “the other side.”

The book originated as a graduate thesis that was influenced by photographs the author took of J6. She wondered, as many of us have, how so many middle-aged women ended up supporting this movement to the point of violence. What draws them to conspiracy theories, and how were they convinced? It did not take me long to see similarities between research on conspiracism (which, as a field, is still quite new) and that on high-control faith communities. Indeed, Ms. Cook draws not only parallels to organized fundamentalist religion but finds concrete evidence demonstrating the influence of specific faiths on large numbers of women who today participate in what we learn is called conspirituality. This term describes a synthesis of varied, individualized New Age spiritual beliefs and conspiracy theories, mainly spread through online influencers. Patriarchal religions, which, as the author notes, “leave little room for older women,” appear to prime them in a post-COVID world to find both hope and new, valued roles in belief systems centered in largely online groups based on common interests in protecting children, health, and education.

Readers will meet two women, Tammy and Yvonne, to learn their stories. As Ms. Cook describes Tammy’s journey, her “paths to conspiracism [were] blasted out by a constant firehose of trauma that began in childhood and kept blasting open new pathways deep into adulthood.” The author uses the grief, heartbreak, and hope shared by Tammy and Yvonne to illustrate how they each found in conspirituality a solution to overcome their despair and sense of powerlessness. As we get to know them better, Ms. Cook adds her research findings to the picture emerging of who is drawn to conspiracism, and why.

I found this powerful work to be valuable on both a personal and professional level. I would recommend it to anyone struggling with family or friends they may have given up as lost to conspiracism, and especially to those in the fields of mental health therapy, substance use disorder treatment, primary care medicine, community nursing, and social work. Intervention opportunities abound for teachers and school-based mental health staff. A solid 5/5.

Deep thanks to Broadleaf Books for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley.

Thanks to Broadleaf Books and Netgalley for the ARC

Not gonna lie, I kind of love that this is coming out on January 6

Incredibly interesting book. A lot has been published about January 6, about the conspirituality movement, about how some people can get radicalized and start to believe in very fringe ideologies, but I feel that it's the first time we're actually focusing on a very specific demographic : middle aged white women. The author decided to tell us the story of two women who are very similar and explain why they are so representative of that movement. Just like with cults (and one could argue this is kind of a cult), anyone could join but not actually everyone ; usually those groups are more appealing to very specific people with pasts and personality traits that they all have in common. Being a victim of trauma throughout your childhood, the lack of social network, the desire to believe in something bigger than yourself, a distrust of the government... All those things mixed with covid, a time when suddenly everyone was isolated and trying to find answers online : a very dangerous combination.

One thing that the author does really well is talking about these women with compassion, I think that's key when talking about those movements, sure I want to point and laugh and judge sometimes, but those women are also victims. Understanding what brought them there is the best way to prevent others from joining. One thing I really agree with, is that there is very little community for menopausal women, once they're past a certain age they become mostly invisible everywhere ; I feel like we don't talk enough about that.

Highly recommend this book, interesting and empathic at the same time