Everything Is Under ControlEverything Is Under ControlAppearances of books by RAWilson have become fewer and farther between, so a new release seems like nothing less than a major event. The publication of Everything Is Under Control would be a major event anyway, though, since it imparts Wilson's thinking on a long, alphabetical list of conspiracy topics. Best known for his satiric masterwork, the Illuminatus trilogy (co-written with Robert Shea), but also equally celebrated among cognoscenti for many volumes of prosody explicating the future-as-it's-happening (Right Where You Are Sitting Now; Prometheus Rising), this new book summarizes and reviews a large slice of contemporary parapolitical currents. No other writer sees more clearly the fuzzy line between satire and the reality of conspiracy culture. Wilson frames the discussion with a long, insightful introduction linking the uncertainty of the times to the attractiveness of conspiracy theory without dismissing the "theories" or swallowing them whole hog. Wilson's co-author, Miriam Joan Hill, deserves great credit for assembling much of the information from a web site that accepted submissions for several months before publication.
Of course, many facts and theories did not make it in and readers could quibble with some of the discussion about what's in there. For instance, Wilson calls the NASA, Nazis and JFK a "reprint" of the Torbitt Document, when in fact it is the first published edition outside the per order press. In the note about Philip Corso, the retired Army Intelligence office who ostensibly exposed the Roswell military technology project (Tim Leary once said, "I"ve been working with the technology they gave us since 1963!"), Wilson lists Steamshovel editor Kenn Thomas as a harsh critic. In fact, Thomas was critical of Corso's critics for jumping the gun and not taking full advantage of the colonel's obligation to promote his book, The Day After Roswell. Everything Is Under Control is a not an almanac of conspiracy theories--although it could be used as one--so such criticism is trivial. The book is a think piece that put things into the perspective of Wilson's wit and erudition. He lists "bisociation" under B, for instance, a term that few researchers know. Arthur Koestler coined it for a certain creative process that also happens to inform much conspiracy theory. Steamshovel planned to discuss the idea before being upstaged in this manner, in fact, and may yet examine a few specific examples on the web site soon. So, obviously, Steamshovel readers should tune into Wilson's wavelength.