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The mysterious allure of secret societies.
Cults, Conspiracies, & Secret Societies
By Arthur Goldwag
In this sprightly and engaging volume, Arthur Goldwag looks under the beds, into the corners, and through the false walls of history and modernity to illuminate not only the Illuminati, but Freemasons, the Knights Templar, the Chaffeurs, the Bilderberg Group, Oulipo and dozens of other clandestine organizations.
By Umberto Eco
The second novel from the pen of the author of The Name of the Rose, perhaps the most intellectually intricate international bestseller of all time, Foucault’s Pendulum entwines the reader in a plot hatched by three mischievous editors in modern Milan, who use their knowledge of the Knights Templar, the Freemasons, and the Rosicrucians to plot their way into unexpected peril.
By Alexandra Robbins
A Yale graduate herself, the author here penetrates the veil of secrecy surrounding that Ivy League institution's most fabled secret society, Skull and Bones, which has claimed the loyalty of presidents, Supreme Court justices, and financial titans—exerting a hidden but powerful influence on the course of American politics and culture from the 19th into the 20th century.
The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power
By Jeff Sharlet
“The Family” -- a society of fundamentalist Christian political players and power brokers that makes its base at “Ivanwald,” its house along the Potomac River in Arlington, Virginia -- has been much in the news of late. This 2008 book is an investigatory narrative tracing the historical roots and contemporary branches of this enduring, if hidden, pillar of America’s ruling class.
By Richard Condon
Twice filmed—first, and unforgettably, in 1962 by John Frankenheimer, whose cult classic, starring Laurence Harvey, Angela Lansbury, and Frank Sinatra, was pulled from circulation for a quarter-century after JFK’s assassination—Richard Condon’s captivating novel about American Korean War soldiers brainwashed by Chinese captors retains all of its Cold War thrills and chills.
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