| Them: Adventures with Extremists | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Jon Ronson |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Picador |
| Publication date | 2001 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover and Paperback) |
| Pages | 337 (first edition, hardback) |
| ISBN | 9780330375450 |
| OCLC Number | 441327388 |
Them: Adventures with Extremists is a book by British journalist Jon Ronson published in 2001. The book accompanied Ronson's documentary series The Secret Rulers of the World, which covered similar topics and depicted many of the same episodes. Both the series and book detail Ronson's encounters following theorists and activists residing on the fringes of the political, religious, and sociological spectrum.
Ronson chronicles his travels and interviews with “extremists” and attempts to uncover the mystery behind the “tiny elite that rules the world from inside a secret room” (13). The book is written on the premise that perhaps extremists are not all that crazy, and as different as they may be, they seem to have a lot in common with each other (specifically the belief that a small group of very prominent people controls the fate of the entire world). From Omar Bakri Mohammed (“Osama bin Laden’s man in Great Britain”) to Thom Robb (Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan), Ronson exposes the hilarity and absurdity of their missions, but also, at times, their startling sanity.
His adventures lead him from Britain to Ruby Ridge, Idaho, to Waco, Texas, all the way to Portugal ad infinitum. Ronson documents his journeys through the world with extremist tour guides and “the result is a funny, superbly controlled account of his wanderings through the wonderland of fanaticism and delusion” (jonronson.com).
Alongside subjects covered in The Secret Rulers of the World, Ronson also describes encounters with radical Islamic activist Omar Bakri Muhammad, Ku Klux Klan leader Thomas Robb, Northern Irish politician Ian Paisley and film director Tony Kaye. Omar Bakri Muhammad, Thom Robb, and Ian Paisley were the subjects of the earlier Ronson documentaries, Tottenham Ayatollah, New Klan, and Dr. Paisley, I Presume.
Much of this book is dedicated to the meeting places of the prolific Bilderberg Group.
In 2005, it was announced that the book was being developed as a film starring Jack Black, scripted by Mike White (School of Rock), and directed by Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead).[1] No further news has ever surfaced, but the film is still listed as a project by Wright.