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Tragedy and Hope 101: The Illusion of Justice, Freedom, and Democracy
The information contained in this book contradicts nearly everything you’ve been led to believe about democracy and “representative government.”
Based on the groundbreaking research of respected historian Carroll Quigley, Tragedy and Hope 101 reveals an unimaginably devious political system, skillfully manipulated by a handful of elite, which is undermining freedom and democracy as we know it. The goal of those who control the system, in Quigley’s own words, is to dominate “all habitable portions of the world.” Using deception, theft, and violence, they have achieved more toward this goal than any rulers in human history.
However, the Information Age is quickly derailing their plans. The immorality of their system, and those who serve it, has become nearly impossible to hide. Awareness and resistance are growing…Tragedy is yielding to hope.
Based on the groundbreaking research of respected historian Carroll Quigley, Tragedy and Hope 101 reveals an unimaginably devious political system, skillfully manipulated by a handful of elite, which is undermining freedom and democracy as we know it. The goal of those who control the system, in Quigley’s own words, is to dominate “all habitable portions of the world.” Using deception, theft, and violence, they have achieved more toward this goal than any rulers in human history.
However, the Information Age is quickly derailing their plans. The immorality of their system, and those who serve it, has become nearly impossible to hide. Awareness and resistance are growing…Tragedy is yielding to hope.
213 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 5, 2014
82 people are currently reading
516 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
May 22, 2016
The title says it all, ‘Tragedy and Hope 101: The Illusion of Justice, Freedom and Democracy’. If you are new to the idea of a powerful elite, secretly controlling the financial and political systems of the world for the purpose of world domination, then this beginners guide is a great place to start. Plummer artfully weaves quotes from a few key references, including Carroll Quigley, Edward Bernays, Henry Kissinger and G. Edward Griffin, among others, to very simply present the recent history of our world as we have never been told in school. In particular, he lays out the very nature of money and the importance of the Federal Reserve Bank and the introduction of income tax to the Network’s prime objective. Throw in the tools of war, terrorism and false flags and the reader is left in no doubt that there is more than meets the eye of the average citizen. My only criticism (and it is a big one), is that Plummer references Wikipedia, often. I believe this was a bit lazy when he could have used more reputable sources. Using Wikipedia just opens him up to further criticism. Overall, this book is well-written and lays out some pretty complex theories in a simple, easy to read format. If you are open to these theories give it a go. If you believe the idea of a powerful secret elite is conspiracy rubbish don’t waste your time. Over to you.
February 21, 2018
This book isn't a bad beginner for people who are interested in understanding the truth about the current geopolitical environment. I also learnt a couple of things that I had not known of before, but for the most part, there was nothing new for me in this book. I wasn't a big fan of how Plummer reached conclusions so abruptly over small pieces of evidence - it gave me the feeling that the research was not genuine, and that the evidence was selectively used in order to support a certain perspective on the matter. Also, being an Academic myself, I absolutely cringed at Plummer's use of footnoting Wikipedia as a 'source'. This made the research look very dodgy, and the proof not so compelling.
Negative constructive feedback aside, I did enjoy this book for what it was. I learnt one or two new things about the world, but I would not read it again. This book was okay.
Negative constructive feedback aside, I did enjoy this book for what it was. I learnt one or two new things about the world, but I would not read it again. This book was okay.
December 1, 2018
Putting aside my disagreement with the vast majority of conclusions Plummer draws in this book, he wrote a compelling argument for the idea of a world run by a small circle of elite. Yet, my problem is that many of his ultimate conclusions (illusion of democracy, evil of the Fed, etc.) are based off a jump in evidence and conclusion from the time of Rhodes to the present. Merely stating that at some-point in the past a council of elite was formed and claiming it continues to the present in an age of technology and whistleblowers needs more than a few paragraphs with citations from wikipedia. If this could be substantiated, I would be more inclined to listen. Until then, I guess I'm one of the willingly indoctrinated.
February 25, 2018
The issue with this book isn't the fact, or even necessarily the presumptions about continuing intentions. The issue is about what isn't here, and the absolutely insane 'fixes'. Gold bugs are loopy, weakening the government and thinking that either other governments or corporations/banks (basically just corporations to worry about in the US) won't step in is just daft. Those are the main two that just get under my skin.
Anyway, Chomsky is a better place to go for "Here's the obvious stuff our government does, why do we stand for this?" regarding foreign affairs. Wolin is a better place to go for the corporate state. Naomi Klein is brilliant for her specific concerns (Disaster Capitalism and Brand Corporatism) . Zoe Williams, Robert Reich, Raoul Martinez, Peter Joseph, Joseph Stiglitz, and so on all contribute to both sound alternatives and pointing out how fucked things are.
This guy feels like a right-wing nutter, eliminate the income tax and go back to gold? Libertarian sociopathy.
Anyway, Chomsky is a better place to go for "Here's the obvious stuff our government does, why do we stand for this?" regarding foreign affairs. Wolin is a better place to go for the corporate state. Naomi Klein is brilliant for her specific concerns (Disaster Capitalism and Brand Corporatism) . Zoe Williams, Robert Reich, Raoul Martinez, Peter Joseph, Joseph Stiglitz, and so on all contribute to both sound alternatives and pointing out how fucked things are.
This guy feels like a right-wing nutter, eliminate the income tax and go back to gold? Libertarian sociopathy.
June 5, 2024
OMG What an eye opening mind expanding book about how our (US) government is Not working for US. I hope Everyone (especially in the US) reads this book But I also hope they don't read it and immediately look for a new planet to populate. This book will enlighten a few and enrage many, some of the enraged will be the enlighten who didn't know FedGov has always been working against the Will of We the People; the others enraged will be the few of US who have been working with the sociopaths to facilitate their total control over US (who knew they already had it). The later group will be enraged that the author gives a simple prescription to remove the elite dictators powers... Stop playing life by their economic rules. I seriously hope everyone does Not wake up and start doing this As the excrement will surely hit a moving propeller on that day. Enjoy the story and act responsibly after reading this! Thanks.
April 10, 2018
Very good outline of how things work in the USA. The source material is Carroll Quigley's Tragedy & Hope, which arose from his first hand study of the private records and papers of the insiders who run most of the world. This book is useful because the original book is so long and so boring. This is a very good jumping off point from the establishement viewpoint for those with little knowledge of the facts about the hegemony masquerading as a republic. It is world wide but control of the money has been through the United States' FED. Most of this can easily be confirmed with even a little searching. But the wanton profligate lies and waste of human lives for the enrichment of a very small class of VERY evil families goes much deeper & reaches right around the world. Its tentacles are in every modern monitary system, political entity, every major "charitable" org. & every major organized religion. They only needed to control the money source (FED) in order to buy all the other resources necessary for complete domination of all mankind. Their most useful tool is the propeganda spewing major media, which spreads their lies 24/7/365. UNLESS people wake up & simply refuse to play *their* game they will win. They wrote the rules & paid off the referees. But there are many billions of us. If we just ignore them & deal with each other, they cant control us ALL, tho certain individuals will no doubt have to sacrifice themselves in order to lead others to the truth. Please read this. Its free on Youtube as I write. Better yet, buy the audio CD set from Joe, rip it & share it widely. Humanity has enough worry now with the advent of AI (also owned & controlled by the same set of evil people). We dont need to be dominated by those who wish to kill us. (Yes they do advocate a population of at least 1/3 of what it is today - preferrably even less). Again I say, Read it. Share it.
September 25, 2021
Great "cliff notes" collection of different books and references illustrating how the US was shaped and manipulated to be what it is today and more. I was a bit irritated at some of the references to one book that I had just read, knowing that other book was referencing something else. Why not just cite the source and not another book referencing that source? Ultimately cited though, I guess that's what is important. Honest in his guesswork and inferences of others writings or opinions. Great and quick read.
March 6, 2018
wow. probably one of the most eye-opening, important books I have read. I doubt I would have gotten as much out of the full version, but I love that the author footnotes all of his work to be referenced. This information and the research that went into the original is critical information not just for people who live in the US, but anywhere. If more people read this book, the world would be a different place
September 27, 2022
I apologize to my fans, I've been delinquent, very busy moving, but, I finally read this book. It's a short book, really a lot of it is familiar territory if you're into this stuff, but it's a good brisk read. It is a little odd in the recommended reading list at the end that there's a few books on fluoride even though fluoride is not mentioned in the book
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October 10, 2025There's plenty here to chew on here, in the field of deep state history as the deep state took over America via powers in and ties to Britain, from ~1850 all the way to the end of the Cold War. So he covers WW1 and 2, as well as Operation Gladio as it pertains to the Cold War. The Rhodes / Milner Group's inception, and contribution to these global events is well sketched, mostly emphasizing E Mandell House and Woodrow Wilson, a key turning point, where Cecil Rhodes established what he wanted.
If I go into Quigley's T&H further, it will be in order to clarify why the wars were so necessary for them in their project. Now on the face of it, it's obvious. It consolidates powers, taking out rival empires. And nothing could be more expensive. So, given you have a central bank set up for the nation's money supply, it indebts the people within your war-machine society (the US) to the maximum degree and so integrates them into your plans further. It traumatizes them and renders them easier to psychologically manipulate. But how does this work economically? - is a bit more of my question and this was left a bit unclear. There is a good chapter on forms of money that are quite simple and thought provoking.
Another point I'd like to clarify is how the international deep state played both hands in these wars, at least financially, especially WW2 in creating both the Nazi and the communist threat. Plummer's rich chapter on Operation Gladio (drawing not from Quigley but, from the less credible, Daniele Ganser) would make a lot more sense here. Yes the fake (CIA, MI6, NATO led) t-error-ist acts are wrong, but as long as we don't see more as to how and why the communist threat was made, then the red scare becomes effective and gives the managerial / elitist class leeway to say the ends justify the means (which they don't and they don't admit to it anyway of course). If the "commies" were manufactured from top down, and it was a bad idea, why not let *them* wreck things, why *also* frame them? was communism not wrong enough on paper (after these countries' adopting and making modifications to the theory) to have its ill effects in practice fast enough?
If I go into Quigley's T&H further, it will be in order to clarify why the wars were so necessary for them in their project. Now on the face of it, it's obvious. It consolidates powers, taking out rival empires. And nothing could be more expensive. So, given you have a central bank set up for the nation's money supply, it indebts the people within your war-machine society (the US) to the maximum degree and so integrates them into your plans further. It traumatizes them and renders them easier to psychologically manipulate. But how does this work economically? - is a bit more of my question and this was left a bit unclear. There is a good chapter on forms of money that are quite simple and thought provoking.
Another point I'd like to clarify is how the international deep state played both hands in these wars, at least financially, especially WW2 in creating both the Nazi and the communist threat. Plummer's rich chapter on Operation Gladio (drawing not from Quigley but, from the less credible, Daniele Ganser) would make a lot more sense here. Yes the fake (CIA, MI6, NATO led) t-error-ist acts are wrong, but as long as we don't see more as to how and why the communist threat was made, then the red scare becomes effective and gives the managerial / elitist class leeway to say the ends justify the means (which they don't and they don't admit to it anyway of course). If the "commies" were manufactured from top down, and it was a bad idea, why not let *them* wreck things, why *also* frame them? was communism not wrong enough on paper (after these countries' adopting and making modifications to the theory) to have its ill effects in practice fast enough?
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September 23, 2025Трудно е да се пише за книга, чието предназначение е да тълкува друга книга („Трагедия и надежда“), без да има претенциите за превъзходство или високопарен анализ. Още по-трудно е да се предаде съдържанието, така че искам да споделя просто чувствата си. А те са следните – Купете си книгата! Купете я, прочетете я и после идете да я купите за своите близки! Няма да сбъркате.
Не ми се случва често да пиша за книга по тази начин, камо в стила на среднощен телешопинг канал, но съществуват онези редки бисери в преводната литература, които си заслужават и които ще ви се отплатят десетократно. А четенето на „Тайните структури на властта“ е именно такова преживяв��не – ще ви споходи усещането, че сте прочели десет, ако ли не двайсет книги, докато стигнете края.
Стилът не изостава от посланието – жив, пластичен, с художествени оттенъци и лични бележки от страна на автора. Перфектно съчетание между богат език, висока ерудиция, съвременна философия и простота на архитектониката.
Не на последно място – книгата е пълна с препратки към други известни книги, статии и сайтове, които да внесат повече светлина върху отделни моменти.
Ако все още се маете дали да не купите книгата, знайте това от мен – терминът „конспирация“ се появява през 60-те години на миналия век в САЩ и е измислен от ЦРУ за заклеймяване на всички онези, дръзнали да дадат гласност на въпросите си и неодобрението си. Да, дъртите ергени, живеещи в мазетата на майките си и носещи шапки от алуминиево фолио са твърде комични във филмите. (Холивуд доста се е постарал да изгради „правилния“ образ в главите на зрителите си) В същото време, случайно или не, именно така наречените „конспиратори“ са най-енергичните, дейните и ярките в същите тези ленти. Случайност?
Не ми се случва често да пиша за книга по тази начин, камо в стила на среднощен телешопинг канал, но съществуват онези редки бисери в преводната литература, които си заслужават и които ще ви се отплатят десетократно. А четенето на „Тайните структури на властта“ е именно такова преживяв��не – ще ви споходи усещането, че сте прочели десет, ако ли не двайсет книги, докато стигнете края.
Стилът не изостава от посланието – жив, пластичен, с художествени оттенъци и лични бележки от страна на автора. Перфектно съчетание между богат език, висока ерудиция, съвременна философия и простота на архитектониката.
Не на последно място – книгата е пълна с препратки към други известни книги, статии и сайтове, които да внесат повече светлина върху отделни моменти.
Ако все още се маете дали да не купите книгата, знайте това от мен – терминът „конспирация“ се появява през 60-те години на миналия век в САЩ и е измислен от ЦРУ за заклеймяване на всички онези, дръзнали да дадат гласност на въпросите си и неодобрението си. Да, дъртите ергени, живеещи в мазетата на майките си и носещи шапки от алуминиево фолио са твърде комични във филмите. (Холивуд доста се е постарал да изгради „правилния“ образ в главите на зрителите си) В същото време, случайно или не, именно така наречените „конспиратори“ са най-енергичните, дейните и ярките в същите тези ленти. Случайност?
January 10, 2021
I’ve always been both intrigued and skeptical of New World Order type conspiracies. Shadowy men in occult robes pulling the strings from the shadows seems somehow comical and inelegant. However it is equally naive to assume that powerful and wealthy people never conspire to their own end, and indeed, on some level many people are probably aware of tales of CIA backed revolutions in third world countries and bad behaviour of the banks in the 2008 crisis and so on. However, there seems to be a blind spot when it comes to more nefarious and close-to-home schemes.
This book won’t turn you into a raving Alex Jones style lunatic, but the accounts of Operation Northwoods and Operation Gladio alone will, at the very least, open your eyes to the possibility that world events are not always as they seem.
This book won’t turn you into a raving Alex Jones style lunatic, but the accounts of Operation Northwoods and Operation Gladio alone will, at the very least, open your eyes to the possibility that world events are not always as they seem.
May 1, 2022
This was quite disturbing and gives a good summary of other books on the subject of a global elite class that has fundamentally shaped society for the last century. There is simply way too much information to cover properly in 200 pages but this was convincing enough that I am now more curious. The author not only includes sources from similar books but also includes quotes from the people and groups he is talking about. The latter sources were the most significant as they were fairly damning evidence that couldn't really be misconstrued. I definitely want to read more about this subject and it was a good intro/primer.
February 15, 2024
This book makes everything make sense
This book was written before covid and many of are now more awake to what are the real intentions of the hidden ruling class. We are up against a formidable enemy; being naive or trying to keep our heads in the sand is no protection from what is coming next. I agree with the author that even though we may be tempted to think that we can’t personally do anything of consequence; if we were all to do “something” (like read this book and share it with a friend), all those something’s would add up. Please read this book!
This book was written before covid and many of are now more awake to what are the real intentions of the hidden ruling class. We are up against a formidable enemy; being naive or trying to keep our heads in the sand is no protection from what is coming next. I agree with the author that even though we may be tempted to think that we can’t personally do anything of consequence; if we were all to do “something” (like read this book and share it with a friend), all those something’s would add up. Please read this book!
January 24, 2018
Reasonably well-written, I used the audio book, which has average production value. This is an ok read that presents a different point of view. I'm open to the concepts contained in the book which actually plugs some holes in history and current events, but not entirely sold on this being completely true in all examples.
July 30, 2018
Sensationalised and over reaching with its conclusions. All the instances of governments acting illegally are well documented and public knowledge but the authors conclusions do not necessarily follow. I think it would be helpful if more people knew about this though. Maybe then they would become more critical of what they hear on the news.
December 12, 2025
An eye-opening must read
A well written summary and explanation of Quigley’s original work Tragedy and Hope. Highly recommended to anyone struggling to understand the moral desolation of our global order and how it is that Western systems of power are guided only by a might is right mentality.
A well written summary and explanation of Quigley’s original work Tragedy and Hope. Highly recommended to anyone struggling to understand the moral desolation of our global order and how it is that Western systems of power are guided only by a might is right mentality.
July 18, 2019
Very disappointing. Makes wishful logical leaps of logic like they’re going out of style. Naively I hoped for a more reasoned critique of society, development and the “Western perspective”. No such luck.
June 15, 2024
Appreciated the relatively brevity of this book. I did slog through The Creature from Jekyll Island which is a big book with a huge reference section. This book is in the same vain and it does a good job of connecting the dots.
May 16, 2019
Great Primer
This summary has been an excellent primer for Tragedy and Hope, which will take much longer to read! Thanks Joe
This summary has been an excellent primer for Tragedy and Hope, which will take much longer to read! Thanks Joe
February 25, 2021
An excellent primer on the NWO.
May 11, 2021
Wow, this is quite something to diggest. I did read The Creature of Jekyll Island and 'Web of Debt' before. But still quite the ride.
September 11, 2021
A must read book!
February 8, 2022
Would rate 3.5/5
April 29, 2022
A real eye opener
Documented how we went down the road to socialism/globalism. Its a must read for anyone interested in America's future . Thank you
Documented how we went down the road to socialism/globalism. Its a must read for anyone interested in America's future . Thank you
October 4, 2022
Исторически факти смесени с невероятни конспирационни теории водят до този резултат. Не си губете времето.
December 2, 2022
So head-shakingly unbelievable I can't believe I finished it.
November 24, 2023
Its okay. I started skimming towards the end - how can you write a book about these topics and not even approach the JQ?
August 28, 2024
This one is a great, eye-opening book to read right now - prior to what is coming in November. A must-read. Start by reading this book and weaning yourself off mainstream media immediately.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews