at there are real conspiracies in the world and always have been, and he cites the conspiracies that brought Napoleon, Lenin, Peron, and Saddam Hussein to power. He also refers to numerous coups d'etat and revolutions and to the conspiracies which removed James II, Trujillo, Julius Caesar, and the Gang of Four from power. He also points out that historians generally avoid discussing conspiracies because such things take place behind the scenes:
Normal sources or archives do not reveal its operators, who rarely leave a paper trail. Evidence often depends on victims who are unlikely to be objective (Foss 61).
Daniel Pipes refers to one type of conspiracy theory as "conspiracism," or the notion that conspiracy lurks everywhere and can be used to explain events ranging from the French Revolution to the charges against O.J. Simpson:
These theories are based on imaginary rather than real conspiracies. "Explanations" of the assassination of J.F. Kennedy are probably the most notorious recent example. Conspira
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