Secret Societies and Subversive Movements

Rating:
Summary: Definitive
Review: If your are interested in getting started on the road to conspiracy then there is no finer book. This is the definitive reference book on pre-1920s conspiracy theory. Is there a vast conspiracy by the elite to defraud and enslave all the peoples of the world primarily through the international banking cartel. Webster, who clearly knows her stuff, says yes. Fact is a lot stranger than fiction and here she unmasks the true conspirators.

Rating:
Summary: Valid analysis marred by turgid writing
Review: Nesta H. Webster offers a refreshingly sane approach to the intriguing subject of secret societies. While this book contains nothing so ludicrous as theories about UFOs, Black UN helicopters, or UN concentration camps (it was first published in 1924), it does not dismiss the real influence of subversive movements on human history. It is interesting to see why she wrote the book in the first place: in her study of the French Revolution, she came to the conclusion that such an event could not have happened on its own, and her research led to a far more extensive study of the present subject. Covering occult movements from ancient Greece to modern-day massonic lodges, this book is indispensible for the serious student of history. Readers may find some of the anti-Semitic themes disturbing, but taken as a whole the book is well-worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent explanation of the Conspiracy Theory of History
Review: SECRET SOCIETIES by historian Nesta Webster is an excellent book if the topics of conspiracy theories, mind control, occult doctrines being imposed throughout the world and the notorious Jewish question happen to interest the reader. Webster remains very scholarly and does not jump to conclusions too hastily without examining the evidence first. She occupies an unusal position. She is Christian, but is opposed to the "neoconservatives" of her day as lacking the spirit to get her nation, Britain, back on track. Today she would probably occupy the position of Pat Buchannan. She also does not condemn Eastern religions and Islam the way most fundamentalist Christians today do. She recognizes the validity of their religious spokesment through time, but still believes that Jesus is God speaking most clearly to man.

The history of secret societies is traced from ancient Egypt, Persia, to the life of Christ, and on down to the point after the Russian Revoloution. The list of groups is endless: Gnostics, Manicheans, Assassins, Knights Templar, Rosicrucians, Freemasons, Illuminati, Grand Orient Freemasonry to the Marx inspired socialists, anarchists, and communists. The Illuminati and the pseudo-Muslim Assassins are considered the best models of how secret societies operate. Some secret groups however, have not tried to combat revealed truth or well-ordered society, such as the Essenes, Jesuits and the British Masons (the Grand Orient ones from Europe are the bad ones).

As to the massive force behind the societies, Webster first takes and anti-German stance and investigates if the Germans are responsible, since the societies have damaged France and Britain and helped spread German nationalism. Although the Germans have used Freemasons, Illuminati, international bankers and Jews in order to further their national agenda, Webster points out the Jewish element as overriding the German one. Underlying many of these forces is the influence of the Jewish Cabalists. Webster documents the inordinate amount of influence that Jews have had over secret societies and of their doctrines in the Cabala and Jewish belief in their status of the "chosen people." She wrestles with the question of wether or not the Jews have been consciously involved in a millenia-old-conspiracy to destroy Christianity and its followers and whether or not the PROTOCOLS OF ZION is a forgery. She leans toward accepting the PROTOCOLS as legitemate and in this regard. Zionism was emerging as a potent political movement at the time this book was written and it is commented upon.

If you are trying to figure out how the world and the groups that work to change the world (for the worse, usually) then I can't reccomend this book enough. It is objective and even-keeled the whole way through. Learn why socialist policy is a sham.

Rating:
Summary: Valid analysis marred by turgid writing
Review: This book lays down the history of secret societies and subversive movements and ideologies from ancient times to the modern day. She lays down the ideas and ideologies of some subversive groups from antiquity and shows similarities with later subversive groups in history. The research and analysis is decent enough, but her writing style and presentation can leave much to be desired.

This book was written in the 1920's, and periodically she makes references to some of her previous works, which she assumes the reader is familiar with. Also, the author LOVES to quote passages in Latin or French without a corresponding English translation. After awhile, this can become very annoying.

The conclusion she reaches is that there are organizations that spring up propagating ideologies that are nihilistic and created to destroy belief in the existing social order. Such organizations often get used by influential people to use as political weapons. This can be very true, but the influence of such bodies in modern times I think is exaggerated. Before the creation of mass communication and media, the control or use of groups like the Masons, which had influential people in its membership would lend itself to successful subversive activity. In modern times, such influence pales in comparison to what control of media or finance allows.