
They Knew
How a Culture of Conspiracy Keeps America Complacent
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Narrated by:
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Sarah Kendzior
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By:
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Sarah Kendzior
About this listen
This program is read by the author.
FINALIST FOR THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE
“Every sentence delivered. The pathos of truth-seeking left me thinking of Herman Melville." —Timothy Snyder, #1 New York Times bestselling author of On Tyranny
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING author Sarah Kendzior delves into the difference between conspiracy and conspiracy theory, "deftly separat[ing] fact from fiction in a conspiracy-addled nation" (VANITY FAIR).
"The topics covered in this audiobook may be rough going for listeners, but the author's commitment to sounding the alarm will keep them glued to their earbuds." —AudioFile
Conspiracy theories are on the rise because officials refuse to enforce accountability for real conspiracies. Uncritical faith in broken institutions is as dangerous as false narratives peddled by propagandists.
The truth may hurt—but the lies will kill us.
They Knew discusses conspiracy culture in a rapidly declining United States struggling with corruption, climate change, and other crises. As the actions of the powerful remain shrouded in mystery—“From Norman Baker to Jeffrey Epstein, Iran-Contra to January 6" (VF)—it is unsurprising that people turn to conspiracy theories to fill the informational void. They Knew exposes the tactics these powerful actors use to placate an inquisitive public.
Here, for the first time, Kendzior blends her signature whip-smart prose and eviscerating arguments with lyrical and intimate examinations of the times and places that haunt American history. "America is a ghost story," states Kendzior, as she unearths decades of buried history, providing an essential and critical look at how to rebuild our democracy by confronting the political lies and crimes that have shaped us.
A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books.
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It's informative and frightening
- By Amazon Customer on 07-17-22
By: Malcolm Nance
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Surviving Autocracy
- By: Masha Gessen
- Narrated by: Masha Gessen
- Length: 5 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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In the run-up to the 2016 election, Masha Gessen stood out from other journalists for the ability to convey the ominous significance of Donald Trump's speech and behavior, unprecedented in a national candidate. Within 48 hours of Trump's victory, the essay "Autocracy: Rules for Survival" had gone viral, and Gessen's coverage of Trump's norm-smashing presidency became essential reading for a citizenry struggling to wrap their heads around the unimaginable.
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Good But . . .
- By A reviewer on 06-02-20
By: Masha Gessen
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How Fascism Works
- The Politics of Us and Them
- By: Jason Stanley
- Narrated by: MacLeod Andrews
- Length: 5 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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As the child of refugees of World War II Europe and a renowned philosopher and scholar of propaganda, Jason Stanley has a deep understanding of how democratic societies can be vulnerable to fascism: Nations don’t have to be fascist to suffer from fascist politics. In fact, fascism’s roots have been present in the United States for more than a century.
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A Warning Too Clear to Ignore
- By Chip Auger on 10-30-18
By: Jason Stanley
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Strongmen
- Mussolini to the Present
- By: Ruth Ben-Ghiat
- Narrated by: Chloe Cannon
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Ruth Ben-Ghiat is the expert on the "strongman" playbook employed by authoritarian demagogues from Mussolini to Putin. In Strongmen, she lays bare the blueprint these leaders have followed over the past 100 years, and empowers us to recognize, resist, and prevent their disastrous rule in the future.
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Fascism expert talks fascism
- By sparky on 12-04-20
By: Ruth Ben-Ghiat
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The Road to Unfreedom
- Russia, Europe, America
- By: Timothy Snyder
- Narrated by: Timothy Snyder
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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With the end of the Cold War, the victory of liberal democracy was thought to be absolute. Observers declared the end of history, confident in a peaceful, globalized future. But we now know this to be premature. Authoritarianism first returned in Russia, as Putin developed a political system dedicated solely to the consolidation and exercise of power. In the last six years, it has creeped from east to west as nationalism inflames Europe, abetted by Russian propaganda and cyberwarfare.
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A Key Understanding of Modern Politics
- By Richard Keohane on 04-08-18
By: Timothy Snyder
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Autocracy, Inc.
- The Dictators Who Want to Run the World
- By: Anne Applebaum
- Narrated by: Anne Applebaum
- Length: 4 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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We think we know what an autocratic state looks like: There is an all-powerful leader at the top. He controls the police. The police threaten the people with violence. There are evil collaborators, and maybe some brave dissidents. But in the 21st century, that bears little resemblance to reality. Nowadays, autocracies are underpinned not by one dictator, but by sophisticated networks composed of kleptocratic financial structures, surveillance technologies, and professional propagandists, all of which operate across multiple regimes, from China to Russia to Iran.
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A Triumphant Work -Puts It All Together With Laser Clarity
- By Sjhoffman on 09-19-24
By: Anne Applebaum
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On Tyranny (Expanded Audio Edition)
- Updated with Twenty New Lessons from Russia's War on Ukraine
- By: Timothy Snyder
- Narrated by: Timothy Snyder
- Length: 9 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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In this exclusive audiobook edition, which includes eight hours of new content, Snyder combines the original essays from On Tyranny with twenty new lessons that answer the questions everyone is asking about this war. With forays into history, he clarifies the causes of the Russian invasion and the meaning of Ukrainian resistance, and explains the war's connections to threats to democracy here in the United States and around the world. Linking past and present, speaking only from notes, he guides the listener into the larger moral universe of On Tyranny.
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Best book of the decade
- By Chuck on 04-21-22
By: Timothy Snyder
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American Kompromat
- How the KGB Cultivated Donald Trump, and Related Tales of Sex, Greed, Power, and Treachery
- By: Craig Unger
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 12 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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This is a story about the dirty secrets of the most powerful people in the world—including Donald Trump. It is based on exclusive interviews with dozens of high-level sources—intelligence officers in the CIA, FBI, and the KGB, thousands of pages of FBI investigations, police investigations, and news articles in English, Russian, and Ukrainian. American Kompromat shows that from Trump to Jeffrey Epstein, kompromat was used in operations far more sinister than the public could ever imagine.
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10 star book
- By Victoria Eriksson on 01-31-21
By: Craig Unger
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Oath and Honor
- A Memoir and a Warning
- By: Liz Cheney
- Narrated by: Liz Cheney
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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In the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, Donald Trump and many around him, including certain other elected Republican officials, intentionally breached their oath to the Constitution: they ignored the rulings of dozens of courts, plotted to overturn a lawful election, and provoked a violent attack on our Capitol.
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Most important book I've ever read.
- By James m Finamore jr on 12-07-23
By: Liz Cheney
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An Immense World
- How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us
- By: Ed Yong
- Narrated by: Ed Yong
- Length: 14 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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The Earth teems with sights and textures, sounds and vibrations, smells and tastes, electric and magnetic fields. But every kind of animal, including humans, is enclosed within its own unique sensory bubble, perceiving but a tiny sliver of our immense world. In An Immense World, Ed Yong coaxes us beyond the confines of our own senses, allowing us to perceive the skeins of scent, waves of electromagnetism, and pulses of pressure that surround us.
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If you’ve never read about the wonder of animal sensory capabilities this is for you
- By MediaBaron on 06-27-22
By: Ed Yong
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Prequel
- An American Fight Against Fascism
- By: Rachel Maddow
- Narrated by: Rachel Maddow
- Length: 13 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Inspired by her research for the hit podcast Ultra, Rachel Maddow charts the rise of a wild American strain of authoritarianism that has been alive on the far-right edge of our politics for the better part of a century. Before and even after our troops had begun fighting abroad in World War II, a clandestine network flooded the country with disinformation aimed at sapping the strength of the U.S. war effort and persuading Americans that our natural alliance was with the Axis, not against it.
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The fight to keep democracy alive
- By Rex on 10-19-23
By: Rachel Maddow
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Twilight of Democracy
- The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism
- By: Anne Applebaum
- Narrated by: Anne Applebaum
- Length: 5 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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From the United States and Britain to continental Europe and beyond, liberal democracy is under siege, while authoritarianism is on the rise. In Twilight of Democracy, Anne Applebaum, an award-winning historian of Soviet atrocities who was one of the first American journalists to raise an alarm about antidemocratic trends in the West, explains the lure of nationalism and autocracy. In this captivating essay, she contends that political systems with radically simple beliefs are inherently appealing, especially when they benefit the loyal to the exclusion of everyone else.
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Modern Dictators & President who wants to be them
- By AJ on 07-23-20
By: Anne Applebaum
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Democracy Awakening
- Notes on the State of America
- By: Heather Cox Richardson
- Narrated by: Heather Cox Richardson
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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At a time when the very foundations of American democracy seem under threat, the lessons of the past offer a road map for navigating a moment of political crisis. In Democracy Awakening, acclaimed historian Heather Cox Richardson delves into the tumultuous journey of American democracy, tracing the roots of Donald Trump’s “authoritarian experiment” to the earliest days of the republic.
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We’d be in a much better position if everyone read this
- By Jeffrey Schwartz on 10-01-23
What listeners say about They Knew
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- Lindsay
- 08-06-23
LOVE Sarah, this is hard to listen to
I can listen to Sarah rant on the fly all day on Gaslit Nation, she really knows her stuff. And I loved Hiding in Plain Sight on audible. But I am giving up on this audiobook halfway through. It’s slow, not all that interesting, and her voice is odd… like she’s trying to sound like a fairy or something lol. I’d rather listen to her impassioned and time constrained speech.
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- Wendy Anderson
- 07-30-23
Truth matters!
As hard as the truth is to bear sometimes, Sarah Kendzior tells it like it is. I appreciate that immensely in these days of “alternative facts.” One can’t fight to build a truly equal and democratic society without confronting and defending the truth, whether it be world plutocracy or America’s racist foundations. Thank you for being in the forefront of that truth Sarah - you are truly an inspiration. And you are a great narrator, as well!
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- Rossi
- 09-18-22
As beautiful as it is terrifying.
Sarah Kendzior is a fantastic writer. Her prose and the way she expresses her thought is majestic; the content she writes about will give you nightmares.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Nate R
- 11-04-22
Something important mixed with too much exaggeration
What the author is trying to say is important, but the format of how she tells the story is mixed with constant personal observations of how Covid felt to her, as well as seemingly boasting her predictive prowess.
For me it didn’t work because her Covid experience wasn’t anything like mine. (I’m not an anti-vaxer, and wore a mask throughout mind you) It just seemed here in the south east it wasn’t the end of the world like she experienced.
Anyway, the message is true and I wish it had been written in a better or alternate time line because what it says should be heard by as many people as possible.
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- tera burbank
- 10-03-22
Another incredible book
I love Kenzior’s journalism; it’s always incredibly in-depth. Her story-telling creates longing and contemplation. Her use of words not often used is appreciated. I appreciate all she sacrifices to bring us information and history that others would rather we not uncover.
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- Shanwan
- 10-15-22
Everyone should read
Sarah is a brave and necessary person in the history of the United States and I hope her amazing works will be recognized as such.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Tracy B. Harms
- 12-04-22
Vital reading
This combination of facts and ideas deserves detailed attention, especially by Americans. Kendzior sets an example for thinking about these troubling and difficult topics. Equally valuable regardless of how familiar one may be with this subject matter. Sprinkled with delightful phrasings, as well!
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- Heather Leasure
- 01-29-25
absolutely amazing
a must read especially as a follow up to hiding in plain sight. the research and the information are invaluable. I made so many notes and learned so much. thank you for this amazing book.
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- Bree's Omi
- 09-26-22
Chilling
"They Knew" is as riveting as Sarah's other books, but also poetic. I'm glad that I was able to listen to it.
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- Joan E Robbins
- 09-20-22
A great book!
Sarah describes people/events and ties between them. Her thoughts on secrets, conspiracies, conspiracy theories, and the truth furthered my thinking greatly. Read this book.
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