There are several useful volumes on the falsehood industry:
Merchants of Doubt by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway
Doubt Is Their Product by David Michaels
The Heat Is On by Ross Gelbspan
Trust Us We’re Experts by Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber
For more information on why we so easily buy into nonsense:
Agnotology/The Making and Unmaking of Ignorance edited by Londa Schiebinger and Robert Proctor
Why People Believe Weird Things by Michael Shermer