"This brief but impactful book offers trenchant commentary on the current war on truth and workable solutions to protect democracy in an increasingly chaotic world...thoughtful and illuminating."
Kirkus Reviews
“Lee McIntyre has emerged as our foremost scholar of science denial and an intellectual activist combatting the attempted assassination of truth. In the teeth of fake news, alternative facts, conspiracy theories, identity politics, postmodernism, and epistemological relativism, McIntyre's On Disinformation expertly identifies who the enemies of truth are and how to counter their claims with reason, science, and compassion. A tour de force of scholarship and advocacy."
Michael Shermer, Publisher Skeptic magazine, Presidential Fellow Chapman University, author of Conspiracy, The Believing Brain, and Why People Believe Weird Things
“McIntyre's latest book connects the sordid history of science denial and climate denial to today's election denial, exposing how interests exploit disinformation and work fissures in our society to weaken citizens' trust in our democracy and in one another.”
Sheldon Whitehouse, U.S. Senator, Rhode Island
“In post-truth America, reality isn't dying by accident or suicide; it's being poisoned on purpose. Lee McIntyre -- a philosopher of knowledge as well as a student of disinformation -- names the culprits and exposes their methods. Even more important, he shows how to foil the crime. On Disinformation is the brisk, bracing primer that everyone should read on how to make America truthful again.”
Jonathan Rauch, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution, and author of The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth
“McIntyre returns to deliver one of the most important books of the year. If you're going to buy one book, buy this pocket-sized guide and help save our democracy from disinformation.”
Sander van der Linden, Professor of Social Psychology in Society, University of Cambridge; author of Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects our Minds and How to Build Immunity
“We hear and read a lot about disinformation but too often this phenomenon is presented as something random or chaotic when it is in fact organized and deliberate. Professor McIntyre brilliantly dissects the strategies and mechanisms fueling disinformation, as well as its major actors and perpetrators. This information is essential if we ever hope to topple disinformation in America and maintain our democratic values.”
Peter Hotez, MD, PhD, Dean, National School of Tropical Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine and Director, Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development
“The philosopher Lee McIntyre, author of several books about disinformation and the scientific method, has written a short prescriptive polemic...The subject of On Disinformation is not QAnon as such but the related phenomenon of “denialism”. The two are linked for the obvious reason that denying the realities of man-made climate change, Covid-19 or the Biden election are essential if you are to posit a conspiracy by the deep state or the Clintons to foist these “false” ideas on an accepting, sheeplike citizenry.”
Financial Times
“On Disinformation: How to Fight for Truth and Protect Democracy, a new book by Lee McIntyre, captures some of the current alarm. His book is a pocket-size polemic warning of 'truth killers' running 'a coordinated campaign' intended 'to spread disinformation out to the masses—in order to foment doubt, division and distrust—and create an army of deniers.' McIntyre, a philosopher and research fellow at Boston University, points to conspiratorial falsehoods about Covid vaccines and the 2020 election. It's not that accurate information about the vaccines and the election was unavailable — it's that it was competing against a fire hose of falsehoods made infinitely easier to disseminate on social media and the internet.”
New York Times Book Review
Winner of the Silver Award, Digital Information, Nautilus, 2024
