Does anyone know of a good book (or, I suppose, website) that provides a detailed criqitue of:
MLK assassination conspiracy theories
the political works of Noam Chomsky (most of what I’ve been able to find thus far is vague handwaving that declares that his ideas are ridiculous, or makes accusations of out-of-context quotes, without providing any details.)
Israel Shahak’s Jewish History, Jewish Religion
Gielow’s You Don’t Say, which purports to prove that all liberals are secretly communists, or some such.
Well, Gerald Posner’s “Killing the Dream” is a pretty good summation (and refutatiion) of most of the conspiracy theories regarding the MLK assassination.
I should add, Posner doesn’t go so far as to say James Earl Ray acted completely on his own. He believes there WAS a mini-conspiracy, led by a group of virulent racists in St. Louis. In Posner’s view, Ray WAS the triggerman, but he had a little help, and committed the murder in hopes of
Getting a large cash reward from this St. Louis group, and
Escaping to South Africa, where he expected to be received as a hero.
But while Posner undertsnads perfectly why so many black Americans suspect the complicity of people like J. Edgar Hoover, he makes a very convincing case that the conspiracy consisted of a small number of lowlifes, NOT key government officials.
I had always wondered what a critical evaluation of Chomsky’s thought might look like.
I dug around a little on the web and came up with the following 2 books:
Edgley, Alison, 1963-. The social and political thought of Noam Chomsky /, Alison Edgley. London ; New York : Routledge, 2000. 205 p. ; 24 cm. Series title: Routledge studies in social and political thought
Winston, Morton Emanuel. On Chomsky /, Morton Winston. Belmont, CA : Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, c2002. 100 p. ; 22 cm. Series title: Wadsworth philosophers series
Related titles: Chomsky
These 2 books appear to be broadly sympathetic to Chomsky’s POV, but I suspect that they may have some useful cites. Happy hunting.