Them: Adventures with Extremists by Jon RonsonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Ronson - a Jew - consorts with an Islamist agitator, two different KKK groups and apparent racists the Weavers... Covering several years, this is entertaining and enlightening on the psychology (abnormal) of the extremist mind, which is unshakeable, conspiratorial, and lacking in self-evaluation. What really sticks out is the final adventure. This is when on On July 15, 2000, in a shaky and unlikely collaboration with disinformation amplifier Alex Jones, he infiltrated the Bohemian Grove expecting to uncover the Cremation of Care ceremony. The footage was the centerpiece of Jones' documentary I saw Dark Secrets: Inside Bohemian Grove. Ronson documented his view of the ritual in a way that could apply to all these zealots lost in an adolescent fever dream: "My lasting impression was of an all-pervading sense of immaturity: the Elvis impersonators, the pseudo-pagan spooky rituals, the heavy drinking. These people might have reached the apex of their professions but emotionally they seemed trapped in their college years."
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