Big lies are told by governments politicians and corporations to avoid responsibility cast
blame on the innocent win elections disguise intent create chaos and gain power and wealth.
Big lies are as old as civilization. They corrupt public understanding and discourse turn
science upside down and reinvent history. They prevent humanity from addressing critical
challenges. They perpetuate injustices. They destabilize the world. The modern age has provided
ever-more-effective ways of spreading lies but it has also given us the scientific method
which is the most effective tool for finding what is true. In the book's final chapter
Kurlansky reveals ways to deconstruct an allegation. A scientific theory has to be testable
and so does an allegation. BIG LIES soars across history: alighting on the noble lies of
Socrates and Plato Nero blaming Christians for the burning of Rome the great injustices of
the Middle Ages the big lies of Stalin and Hitler and their terrible consequences the
reckless lies of contemporary demagogues which are amplified through social media lies
against women and Jews are two examples in the long history of othering the vulnerable for
personal gain up to the equal-opportunity spotlight in America. Belief is a choice Kurlansky
writes and honesty begins in each of us. A lack of caring what is true or false is the undoing
of democracy. The alternative to truth is a corrupt state in which the loudest voices and most
seductive lies confer power and wealth on grifters and oligarchs. We cannot achieve a healthy
planet for all the world's people if we do not keep asking what is true.
