The Strange Career of Nesta H. Webster. Vol. 1
Richard Gilman,
Insight Books, Ann Arbor (U.S.) 1982
As one of the major sources of the Jewish/Illuminati fantasies of the loony right on both sides of the Atlantic, Nesta Webster has a lot to answer for. Her books, it has to be said, are not only total junk, they are turgid in the extreme. On both occasions I tried to read one I gave up pretty quickly. Most of the right-wing’s conspiracy theorists are short on documentation and logic, but some, notably Gary Allen, just about carry this sceptical reader along. Reading Nesta Webster, on the other hand, is a complete chore.
Gilman’s biographical sketch of Webster appears to be the first of its kind. There isn’t much of it but anything’s better than nothing. More importantly, he has compiled what appears to be a near exhaustive listing of her output and the critical response to it, and there is a very interesting bibliography on conspiracies and conspiracy theorising. However, the central question – how she came to believe the dotty things she did believe – remains unanswered, and, in all probability, unanswerable.
But this is a significant book. Ten years ago it would have been safe to dismiss the right-wing conspiracy theorists as just an intellectual oddity, something worth collecting only for their curiosity value. Today we have an American President whose own ‘thinking’ – such as it is – is not so very far away from Webster’s contemporary followers in the John Birch Society. Those with long memories will recall that Reagan was a Goldwater supporter in 1964, the year the Birchers had captured much of the grass roots of the Republican Party. Through the Birchers and related groups this Illuminati gibberish carries on; and, laughable though they are, Nesta Webster’s fantasies still matter.
In the promised second volume Gilman will produce a critique of Webster’s ideas. Such a study is obviously needed, even though it will be akin to dealing with a serious-minded member of the Flat Earth Society. I look forward to the book, glad that it’s not me that has to read her appalling books.
RR
Available in this country from The Alternative Bookshop, 3 Langley Court, Covent Garden, London.
Ireland and the Propaganda War
Liz Curtis,
Pluto Press, 1984
I used to hate picking up Pluto Books, badly written garbage; but thankfully things have changed and we have recently seen a growing list of books well worth buying. Here’s another one.
Liz Curtis’ account of British misinformation and BBC Censorship tactics on Ireland deserves close attention. Well documented, with excellent notation and index, there can be no argument with its contents. As Kincoragate shows, the mainland UK knows little of the real conflict in Northern Ireland and the form in which that conflict takes place.
Whilst blame lies with the British state, what of the complicity of journalists and broadcasters who, in general, escape attention in this book?
Consider…”Peter Lennon reports (The Listener 30th June 1983) that there is only one broadcast journalist in the province with senior editorial rank who is not an Ulster Protestant. The exception is Stephen Claypole, the BBC’s Editor, News and Current Affairs, fourth in seniority. He is English. Lennon asked all the broadcasters whether they considered the root cause of conflict in the province sectarian, social or political. All placed ‘sectarian’ first (two preferring to call it ‘tribal sectarian’), with the sole exception of Claypole, whose order was ‘political, social and sectarian”. (Times 1st July 1983) …. And…”Big noises were made from Northern Ireland when it was learned that Sir Hugh Greene was to be appointed head of the BBC. The problem being that Greene is Catholic.” (A Variety of Lives by Michael Tracey, London 1983)..
SD