Book Synopsis

An unvarnished and immersive dive into the world of conspiracy theories, propaganda, and disinformation from a former Infowars insider caught in the orbit of Alex Jones's madness.

At twenty-four-years old, Josh Owens dropped out of film school when a job offer arrived from the very world that had already begun to warp his sense of reality. After years of being pulled in by Alex Jones's magnetic persona and anti-establishment defiance, he'd become entangled in a universe built on suspicion, spectacle, and carefully manufactured lies. When the call came, he packed up his life and moved halfway across the country, setting off on a journey that would unravel everything he thought he believed.

THE MADNESS OF BELIEVING follows Josh's experience working at Infowars, where he became one of Jones's most trusted employees. He began traveling across the world creating "news" stories, staging chaos, and spreading outright lies to Infowars's ever-growing audience. As he rose through the ranks, his skepticism grew, and Josh underwent a personal transformation just as Infowars too changed from a fringe community to a mainstream disinformation machine.

Josh's story is one playing out across America: that of impressionable young people pulled into a dangerous world where reality and fiction are blurred, and extremist beliefs gain steam. THE MADNESS OF BELIEVING is a reckoning with this climate, one that provides riveting insight into these supposedly radical, truth-driven organizations while exposing their dangerous rhetoric and lies.

Review Quotes

"Owens's story follows a trajectory that's becoming alarmingly familiar in America, where listless, angry, or alienated people find kinship and purpose in fringe communities. Owens' journey from film school, all the way down the Infowars rabbit hole, is a riveting account of what it's like to work for the internet's most notorious conspiracy theorist during the rise of Donald Trump. Owens' prose is unflinching and honest--he never shies away from his past complicity and regret while giving us a rare look inside Alex Jones' propaganda machine. Stories of radicalization are now commonplace, but what makes The Madness of Believing an essential text in this turbulent moment is how Owens chronicles his path out of Jones's world. Written with great empathy and courage, The Madness of Believing is a cautionary tale and a confessional, but above all else, it's a hopeful story--of reckoning, personal accountability and second chances."--Charlie Warzel, writer at The Atlantic

"An honest, searching and often unsettling account of life working for the nation's foremost conspiracy peddler. Owens paints a clear picture of the fervid, hallucinatory environment at Infowars, and the shame and guilt of reckoning with his time there. And crucially, for other people who have found themselves in situations that don't align with their values, he offers a clear, if painful, roadmap for how to find your way out."--Anna Merlan, author of Republic of Lies

About the Author

From 2013 to 2017, Josh Owens was a video editor and field producer for Alex Jones and his media company, Infowars. After nearly four years on the frontlines of a radical new form of media, he quit and began speaking out against conspiratorial thinking and reactionary opportunists. He has written about his experiences at Infowars for The New York Times Magazine as well as CNN and has been interviewed for his expertise on Alex Jones and Infowars's tactics in dozens of media outlets including The New York Times, Vice News, The Atlantic, PBS, Bloomberg, and other outlets. He has appeared in the HBO documentary The Truth Vs. Alex Jones about Sandy Hook and was a consultant for This American Life's episode titled "Alex in Wonderland." He is currently a writer, and this is his first book.