This is not your first book on conspiracy theories. Do you see your new book as a logical continuation of your previous work - or did it feel different writing it, either because of the changed world or changed you?
The book was from the very beginning intended as a successor to my 2018 book. One the one hand, it discusses the developments since then (the pandemic, the war against Ukraine, the return of Trump). On the other, it's an intervention in the public discourse on conspiracy theories in Germany, which, to my mind, is often based on faulty assumptions about the issue.
How would you differentiate between the German and the American conspiracist landscape?
Conspiracy theories remains highly stigmatized in Germany. Even the AfD therefore tends to articulate them in coded form or exploits a grey area between conspiracism and what one could call legitimate discourse.
By contrast, conspiracy theories have been relegitimized in certain parts of the public in the United States and can be voiced openly again.
What do you hope the students of American Studies will take away from your book?
Honestly, I don't think many will read it.
