Richard Spence
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2020.
Language
English
Description
Get to know the elite secret societies that only recruited members who were already (or would likely be) rich or influential, including the Bohemian Club, the Schlaraffia, the Sath-Bhai or Asiatic Brethren, the FOGC, the Skull & Bones Society, and more. These primarily men-only clubs are rumored to have dabbled in black arts, unusual rituals, and conspiratorial agendas.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2020.
Language
English
Description
Start with the history of the smaller secret societies that were popping up all over Germany at the end of the 19th century. Then look at how the larger societies and individuals, which have already been covered, will weave through the background of Hitler’s rise to power. Then explore how the Nazi leader came to embrace secret-society methods for his own purposes.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2020.
Language
English
Description
The Irish Republican Army was a tightly organized secret society battling the greatest power on Earth, the British empire. But they were not the first secret society to practice resistance in Ireland. Professor Spence introduces you to The Whiteboys, the Peep o’Day Boys, the Orange Order, the Sons of the Shamrock, Young Ireland, the Molly Maguires, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, and more.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2020.
Language
English
Description
Professor Spence introduces you to The Ancient and Mystical Order of the Rosae Crucis, which might be the first commercially marketed secret society. During the early 20th century, the mystical order’s grand imperator, H. Spencer Lewis, claimed that “The Secrets Entrusted to the Few,” including skills like levitation and telepathy, could be yours for a low price.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2020.
Language
English
Description
Travel to a historic empire that stretched from Anatolia to Central Asia as you get to know The Assassins, whose roots reach back at least as far as the beginning of Islam in the 7th century. See how “assassin," our generic term for professional killer, is linked to the asaiyun, who were notably the cause of 200 years of terrorism and murder.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2020.
Language
English
Description
Professor Spence looks at the secret societies behind the Boston Tea Party and Bastille Day. Explore the roles that the Sons of Liberty, the Society of the Friends of the Constitution (the Jacobins), the Nine Sisters Lodge, and other groups played in these important revolutions and learn how Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and other Founders were involved with secret groups.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2020.
Language
English
Description
From the 1920 Wall Street bombing to the events of 9/11, see where secret societies have embraced terrorism as a mind game throughout history. Most secret orders are more or less harmless, but Professor Spence peers inside some which have used violence to further their agendas, including the Ku Klux Klan, the Red Army Faction, the Weathermen, and the Symbionese Liberation Army.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2020.
Language
English
Description
Travel back to Ancient Greece to hear what we know of the Eleusinian Mysteries, among the most ancient and prestigious of the Greco-Roman world. This first secret society, which had endured for almost 2,000 years, counted among its members the likes of Socrates, Plato, Plutarch, and Cicero. Professor Spence also considers if secret societies ever die or if they just change into something else.
Publisher
The Great Courses
Pub. Date
2020.
Language
English
Description
Uncover the story behind the Knights Templar: a military monastic order founded during the Crusades who persevered through time to become the subject of so much rumor, speculation, and outright fantasy that it’s almost impossible to separate fact from fiction. Are they guardians for a holy bloodline? Secret devil worshippers? Are they connected to the Kabbalists?