The Real History of Secret Societies

by Richard B. Spence

Streaming video, 2019

Status

Available

Call number

366.09

Collections

Publication

Great Courses (2019), 26 lectures, 30 minutes each, 186 pages

Description

History. Nonfiction. HTML: Welcome to The Real History of Secret Societies, a historical look at the true-life groups which, if you believe the myths, are the unspoken power behind some of the world's major turning points, from controlling the British crown to holding back the electric car and keeping Martians and Atlantis under wraps. Prepare yourself. In this course brought to you in partnership with HISTORY®, you will be visiting some of history's deepest rabbit-holes, across centuries and continents, in search of secret societies in all their varieties. You will journey to some very dark places, and frankly some odd and sometimes silly ones as well. During24 eye-opening lectures, Dr. Richard B. "Rick" Spence, Professor of History at the University of Idaho, guides you through the fascinating, often mystifyingâ??sometimes disturbingâ??world of brotherhoods, sisterhoods, orders, cults, and cabals that have influenced human culture from ancient times to the present. You'll understand how and why secret societies have attracted some of history's most brilliant, and some of its most evil, minds. Often demonized by their enemies, many secret societies have become the stuff of myths and conspiracy theories. Why do they exist? And when they are invented or imagined, why would someone pretend they exist? What do secret societies believe? Who do they recruit? Most important, what influence do they have? Buckle up and get ready to find o… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member datrappert
Not one of the Teaching Company's best courses, but Professor Spence is likable and engaging as he tells a somewhat rambling but nevertheless connected story about secret societies from the Ancient Greek Mysteries to present day terrorists. Some at the Teaching Company let the professor down,
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however, with a bunch of clips apparently from old A&E videos that are used to show the Knights Templar or various conspirators. These are really a distraction, and this would have been about as good as an audio course. But we do get to see a few pictures of real people. Aleister Crowley turns up more than once and is given credit for some successful spying for British Intelligence. He was certainly a man who liked to try different things.
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Language

Local notes

[01] Small-Town Secrets [02] Secret Societies: The Underworld of History [03] The Knights Templar [04] Masonic Revolutions in America and France [05] Bolsheviks, Masons, and Russian Revolution [06] Adolf Hitler and the Thule Society [07] Synarchy, Schemers, and Vichy France [08] Ancient Mystery Cults [09] The Islamic Assassins [10] The Medieval Cathars [11] The Rosicrucians [12] The Illuminati [13] The Freemasons [14] Ireland’s Secret War for Independence [15] Debunking the Elders of Zion [16] Mafia! Criminal Secret Societies [17] Aleister Crowley, Occultism, and Espionage [18] Red Octopus: The Communist International [19] Japan’s Black and Green Dragons [20] Italy’s Secret Government: The P2 Lodge [21] From the KKK to the Black Shriners [22] Bohemian Grove, Bilderbergers, and Elites [23] Secret Societies for Aging Swingers [24] Terrorism’s Long Trail of Secret Cells [25] Secret Societies: The Never Ending Story [26] UFOs and the Elusive George Hunt Williamson

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