The Conspiracy Book: A Chronological Journey through Secret Societies and Hidden Histories

by John Michael Greer

Scholar of the occult and secret histories, John Michael Greer shines a light on 100 mysterious conspiracies and hidden societies throughout history, from Ancient Greece to the modern era.
 
The Freemasons. The Satanic Hell-Fire Club. The Illuminati. This fascinating book delves into 100 mysterious conspiracies across time, ranging from secret societies that planned revolutions to underground groups with sometimes-nefarious agendas. Illustrated with intriguing photos and ephemera, it’s a must-read for anyone interested in learning more about the hidden forces that have shaped some of the most significant events in history.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Occult, Conspiracy Theories, Politics, Audiobook, Esoterica

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 8, 2019

About the author

John Michael Greer is an author of over thirty books and the blogger behind The Archdruid Report. He served as Grand Archdruid of the Ancient Order of Druids in America. His work addresses a range of subjects, including climate change, peak oil, the future of industrial society, and the occult. He also writes science fiction and fantasy. He lives in Rhode Island with his wife.

Reviews

[Karolien ✨ · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was overall alright. But nothing really of the biggest substance. I learned a thing or two but there wasn’t enough time to learn about the topics. Could improve to become better and I would focus more on conspiracies and the effect they’ve had on each other than the timeline of conspiracies. But for the time being I won’t recommend this to people that are interested in the ins and outs of Freemasons, iluminati and such.

[Ellen]

Beetje anders dan verwacht. Meer politiek ingestoken groepen. Blijft erg aan de oppervlakte: je zult zelf moeten googlen als je details wilt weten, want dit is meer een chronologisch lijst waarin groeperingen en ontwikkelingen worden benoemd en nauwelijks worden uitgelegd.

[Rissa (rissasreading) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn't overly informative and only somewhat interesting in my opinion. There wasn't a whole lot of information provided on each society or group in this book, it was only one page each. I found it to be more introductory than anything. It does highlight how these groups have been able to impact politics throughout time and it's crazy to me. So many of these groups are just full of hatred too, it was wild.

[Manuel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me gusta valorar los libros no sólo por su contenido, sino también por la experiencia que supone leerlos a nivel estético. Por esto, una bonita y cuidada edición, como ésta, siempre es un placer. Edición en tapa dura con una bonita portada labrada, gran cantidad de ilustraciones en el texto y un papel grueso y de tacto agradable. El único pero que le pongo a nivel editorial es que, para el poco texto que hay, aparecen bastantes erratas, aunque tampoco dificultan la lectura.

A nivel de contenido el libro no da para gran cosa. Revisar 100 conspiraciones en 200 páginas con una ilustración por página ya podéis suponer que no profundiza mucho, por lo que queda en poco más que una enumeración con alguna anécdota. Echo en falta un mayor equilibrio entre épocas -el 90% del libro es del siglo XVI en adelante- y entre zonas geográficas, dado que salvo una breve incursión por Africa y Oriente Medio, todo el libro es Europa, principalmente Reino Unido y Francia, y Estados Unidos. Pese a todo, ha sido una lectura entretenida que puede servir como entrada para conocer algunos movimientos interesantes y la implicación de estos en algunos periodos históricos.

[Grant]

Interesting subject matter, but ultimately, it didn’t seem all that informative. Each conspiracy was explained too quickly before moving on to the next one.

[Bobby Daugherty · Rating 1 out of 5]

The Cliffsnotes of conspiracy books.

[Roos · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book turned out to be a bit more informative than I anticipated 1/4th of the way through! Conspiracies (or “Samenzweringen”, as I read it, but Goodreads doesn’t show the rad version of the Dutch cover) does a great job roughly sketching out some historically relevant conspiracies & cults. Mass hysteria is a very intriguing topic, and reading about *just* how deep antisemitism goes was a very harrowing experience.

All that being said, this book unfortunately only goes skin deep. It was moreso a list of interesting topics to look up than it was a genuine encyclopedia. In a way, it kind of felt like a collection of back-cover summaries; every entry does the job to get your attention, but it ends once you’re invested, so you’re always left wanting more. I also have a slight hunch that this one worked much better in English than it did in Dutch. From what I can tell Greer has a very appropriately tense writing style that was, unfortunately, lost in translation a little bit.

It’s a 2.5 for me, initially rounded up for the DOPE cover & the fact that every subject on the list was, in fact, a very interesting read (granted I googled it for additional information first) but eventually rounded down for the fact that the book itself didn’t really leave much of an impact & the somewhat lacking translation. Sorry king :(

[Hayley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought it based on the cover which is lovely & it looks great on my shelf. The actual content is fairly light and inconsequential. Focuses on secret societies as opposed to conspiracy theories, the chronological view is pretty interesting but each one only gets one page of surface level information and some are a bit repetetive.

[Paperclippe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too brief to be all that informative and too involved to be all that straightforward. Needed a little more or a little less. I appreciate that it upfront dismissed the fact that all these organizations have their roots in, like, prehistory, though.

[Matilda · Rating 3 out of 5]

En rätt ytlig överblick av naturliga skäl, men den lyckas hålla en röd tråd av skepticism. Hemliga sällskap frodas i att vi ger dem mytisk makt, medan de ofta i själva verket är patetiska. Intressant och sobert att läsa om hur så mycket ännu idag bygger på några enskilda personers lögner och propaganda några hundra år sedan.

Boken avslutas abrupt 1994 och jag skulle gärna ha gått in på några av dagens mest prominenta konspirationer, t.ex. Scientologin och "Trumpismen". Formatet med ett uppslag per sällskap begränsar dock en djupdykning. Ytterhögerns samtida framfart är dessutom så pass outvecklad att den är svår att sammanfatta.

Jag har själv en tendens att lockas av konspirationer (därför var detta nyttig läsning), men det är svårt att inte göra det när rika kommer undan med vad som helst utan straff och konservativa evangelister lyckas avveckla lagar som baseras på mänskliga rättigheter och sunt förnuft.

Det att rika har världen som sin spelplan är ju sant i praktiken. De som orsakade finanskraschen 2008 led inga konsekvenser utan blev tvärtom belönade med bonusar av skattebetalarnas medel. Darryl Cunninghams grafiska roman Supercrash illustrerar detta på ett lättillgängligt sätt. Storföretag fortsätter med miljöfarlig praxis så länge som böterna är mindre än kostnaden att ändra sitt förfarande. Det har varit märkligt tyst om pedofilhärvan efter att Epstein dog och Ghislaine fick sitt straff. Vad hände med utredning och konsekvenser för de som var på listan?

[Ian Mathers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Got this from the library on a whim, with each entry being two pages it's a fun bathroom book type of read. I was already familiar with a lot of the ground covered but Greer does a good job of fitting things together and providing historical connections, so I feel like all these disparate groups I already knew about make more sense as a historical tendency, if you know what I mean. And in 2019 it's heartening to read about anti-KKK secret societies, you know?

[Simon Traschinsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

More a historical, detailed overview of conspiracies through the centuries and less a collection of the crazy and weird believes out there. Not what I expected, but for history buffs an interesting read, either way. The look and feel of the book with a great cover, nice make-up and beautiful illustrations on every page, makes it immune to further criticism. Not a deep dive into the topic, but an easy to read overview for everyone interested into that topic from a historical standpoint.

[Voidroze · Rating 3 out of 5]

Оказалась немного разочарована.
Про каждое тайное общество в книге ровно (!) одна страничка. Крупным, довольно-таки, шрифтом. Да, я понимаю, что на ~200 страниц сложно расписать много, но все же хотелось. Выборка довольно странная, на мой взгляд. Разбивка по хронологии, а не по местам образования. Из плюсов - фотографии (хоть и черно-белые) и качество бумаги.
Да, содержание интересное, но очень сильно скомканное, на мой взгляд.

[Georgia McCarthy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rating: ⭐⭐

This isn't a book on conspiracies but instead the history of secret societies through time.
Rather than listing every minute society, I'd have enjoyed a more in depth look at those that made an impact and potentially the conspiracies surrounded their beliefs etc. Unfortunately this is far from what this book offers, and instead you get a brief description of a a tedious amount of socialites spanning hundreds of years

[Angi C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this one. While the information is kept fairly brief, the book allows you to easily see the interconnections of these secret societies. I live in a town that was inhabited by one of the people described in this book and there's such a crazy story associated with him and his doings. On that note, Indiana is not the Klan.

[Kæso · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is perfect toilet reading material. I'm 100% serious about this. The single-page entries on each subject, with a wide variety of topics spanning throughout history, makes this book wonderful for when you're on the john and forget your cellphone in another room. Great work from Greer, as always.

[Hyaden · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bought this because of the interesting topic and pretty cover. Unfortunately the content is very superficial and the chronological order makes it actually more confusing due to skipping between subjects. I'm reading the Dutch version and the translation is subpar. The book is a bit of a disappointment.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun book to go through. Full of great pictures. Like another reviewer mentioned, it really is only surface level informatiom, but Greer includes all the books he used in his research, so readers are free to do some digging of their own. Definitely a primer book before diving deeper into more conspiracy related topics.

[Gaby · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fun little aesthetically pleasing book. It's helpful that it's chronological instead of encyclopedia-style, and even though it isn't particularly in-depth in its explanations, it was still informative as well as entertaining.

[Malin · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a dissapointment. I was expecting more information about secret societies but it was unbelievably lacking. It was a very short description on each, and then it moved on to the next, and so on.
The cover was very pretty though.

[None]

Short historical overview

This book describes the secret societies. In guves you a brief overview with a timeline description. It is a great starting point to get in touch with information about secret societies as it refers to more books to get a more deep understanding.

[Andrei Hognogi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is neither a fountain of knowledge nor a mindblowing read. It's not worth 4 stars but thsi book is the epitome of honesty. You get precisely what you expect.

E great book to serve as an index of what it's worth studying deeper and what not.

[Joe Stevens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of short entries that are somewhat interesting if like me you don't know a lot about the subject and are curious. Not a lot of meat on the bones however. Still was glad it seemed to be an honest book since some books on the subject can be biased or just nuts. Good overview.

[cypher · Rating 4 out of 5]

nice to have so many of these in one place, chronologically.
many were government spinoffs, for their "elites" or others', or to serve some other agenda...big surprise...some equivalent of a gentleman's club or made to keep power.

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

Chapters are so short, it never goes in depth on the topic. The first 60% of the book is a lot of repetition about the Jacobites. Closer to the 1900's it gets more interesting with scary parallels to current events but then the book stops abruptly in 1994.

[S.R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wouldn't recommend listening to this as an audiobook, it's more of a coffee table/reference book than something enjoyable to read. However, I did enjoy all the inclusions and it had given me lots of rabbit holes to go down!

[Floyd Liff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

This is a great starting point if you want to learn about secret societies. Gives you further reading sections too.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting chronological information. Light...nothing in depth here. Great artwork.

[Hypado · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good nonfiction book about secret societies through the centuries.

[Christi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was so well done that I bought it for my own bookshelf!