strong possibility that future generations will feel the same about us that we feel towards the past (that their lives were filled with more suffering than we would be willing to bear). Philosophical pessimism is not held or even widely considered by most humans, which, according to Ligotti, is because of its terrifying implications rather than the strength of the arguments for or against it. Reception W. Scott Poole of PopMatters praised Conspiracy's "astonishing range", saying that "Ligotti takes us on a tour of both philosophy and literature that manages to include Schopenhauer, Ann Radcliffe, Thomas De Quincey, H.P. Lovecraft, and Poe. This is no simple ornamental display of learning and range; Ligotti has insights into each of these figures that cut like a razor." Poole went on to call The Conspiracy Against the Human Race one of the best books of the year. Mark Fisher described Conspiracy as "amateur philosophy in the best possible sense, driven by a metaphysical hunger that is so often lacking in the work of professional philosophers." The book was nominated for the 2010 Bram Stoker Award for Best Non-Fiction. Impact on True Detective In 2014, the HBO television series True Detective attracted attention from some of Ligotti's fans because of the striking resemblance between the pessimistic philosophy espoused in the first few episodes by protagonist Rust Cohle (played by Matthew McConaughey) and Ligotti's writings in The Conspiracy Against the Human Race, leading to accusations that dialogue from Cohle's character in True Detective were plagiarised from The Conspiracy Against the Human Race. The series' writer, Nic Pizzolatto, confirmed in The Wall Street Journal that Ligotti, along with several other writers and texts in the supernatural horror genre, had indeed influenced him. Pizzolatto said he found The Conspiracy Against the Human Race to be "incredibly powerful writing". On the topic of hard-boiled detectives, he asked: "What could be more hardboiled than the worldview of Ligotti or [Emil] Cioran?" The attention from True Detective resulted in increased sales for The Conspiracy Against the Human Race, to the point that it began to outsell Atlas Shrugged. References 2010 non-fiction books 2018 non-fiction books American non-fiction books English-language books Nihilist works Viking Press books Works about antinatalism Works about philosophical pessimism Works by Thomas Ligotti