Them at 25: Jon Ronson's adventures with extremists made him famous – and Alex Jones, too

Theory Briefing

• Ronson's 1999 book followed fringe groups convinced a secret elite rules the world from a hidden room — a claim he treated as absurd but documented in vivid detail.
• By giving extremists a platform to explain themselves, Ronson's empathetic style may have spread the very ideas he set out to scrutinize.
• Alex Jones, featured in the book, went on to become one of the world's most influential conspiracy broadcasters — raising the question of who benefits from humanizing true believers.
• The 25-year anniversary prompts a debate about whether immersive journalism exposes dangerous ideas or amplifies them.