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Them: Adventures with Extremists
- Narrated by: Jon Ronson
- Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins
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Them: Adventures with Extremists
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Publisher's Summary
Them began as a book about different kinds of extremists, but after Jon had got to know some of them - Islamic fundamentalists, neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klansmen - he found that they had one oddly similar belief: that a tiny, shadowy elite rule the world from a secret room. In Them, Jon sets out, with the help of the extremists, to locate that room. The journey is as creepy as it is comic, and along the way Jon is chased by men in dark glasses, unmasked as a Jew in the middle of a Jihad training camp, and witnesses international CEOs and politicians participate in a bizarre pagan ritual in the forests of northern California.
Them is a fascinating and entertaining exploration of extremism, in which Jon learns some alarming things about the looking-glass world of ‘them’ and ‘us’. Are the extremists on to something? Or has Jon become one of Them?
What the critics say
What listeners say about Them: Adventures with Extremists
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Satchmo Coltrane
- 2020-09-28
A real gem
I loved this book. It was a breath of fresh air in comparison to the stuff I’d been listening to. Jon narrates his work perfectly. Super interesting subject matter and told with a good humoured bent but not demeaning by any means. Brilliant.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Ben J Redant
- 2017-11-15
One of Ronson's Most Compelling Listens
If you liked 'The Men Who Stare at Goats', or enjoyed 'The Psychopath Test', you must definitely check out Jon Ronson's 'Them'. Ronson is at his gonzo journalistic best in this story, as he goes about, covertly infiltrating and reporting on the paranoid and the extreme. The narrative is extremely fair and non-judgmental, even when Ronson finds himself on 'the other side of the looking glass'. One of my favourite turns of phrase is included herein (and I'm paraphrasing, as I don't have the exact quote in front of me): 'It's a good thing I don't believe in the secret rulers of the world. Just imagine what the secret rulers of the world would do to me if I did.'
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
- Liv
- 2021-03-19
Not one of my favorites
I always enjoy Jon's narration but this was not one of my favorite writings from his collection.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Mike Reiter
- 2022-02-06
I didn't find any of it humorous
This book is a collection of experiences Ronson has with various extremist groups in the late 90's. He does humanize some of them from being the evil in the dark to either people or buffoons. In the end he comes to the conclusion that they all have an underlying belief in a secret world controlling group, maybe lizards.
This is my second Jon Ronson book. Over all I find his narration kind of distracting and his voice grates on me, and that is personal preference. The first book of his I had, Lost at Sea: The Jon Ronson Mysteries, I couldn't finish. I finished this one but it was a slog. I liked Men Who Stare at Goats, the movie. I bought both of these books based on that movie. Both were in my library for too long to return,
Maybe I don't get the humour? He makes some vaguely ironic observations, but nothing in this book made me laugh, or was new information. Maybe since the time frame is the late 90's the material didn't age well. The world is a lot more shouty than it was then, and the extremists more dangerous.
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