Rule by Secrecy: The Hidden History That Connects the Trilateral Commission, the Freemasons, and the Great Pyramids

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Summary: Terminal Silliness
Review: I have worked with more than a few people from CFR and similar organizations. They are generally some of the brightest and influential people in the US and the world, but they are not omniscient, omnipotent, or omni-anything. They're people. Spend your money on a subscription to The Economist and find out how the world really works; don't waste your money on this kind of idiocy.

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Summary: Another Spectacular Marrs Effort
Review: Jim Marrs produces another winner by combining his journalistic edge with effortless storytelling to uncover the story of secret societies that recent movies could only scratch the surface of. Marrs also has a new and previously unreleased, full-length e-book, Psi Spies, on a website called alienzoo.com.

Rating:
Summary: rule by secrecy
Review: what jim shows us is how the whole world is being run by a fewmen.the damage which is being done by the federal reserve system. whothe members are of a massive conspiracy. also how wall street approves or disaproove candidates for prisident, they are both the same, democrat and republicans are controlled by the same conspirators. he recommends choosing a liberterian or reform party candidate someone who is not inter twined with the conspirators. a great book for thos who wnat the truth. FROM A CERTIFIED TRUTHSEEKER.

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Summary: Must Read
Review: I read this book and know much more than I did before. I strongly recommend you read it too.

Rating:
Summary: Good over view
Review: It presents a good overview of the various conspiracy theories and elite organizations, but I think it tries to crunch on too many at the same time and falls a little short of the mark in wrapping it all up in the end. I don't think anybody could wrap it all up at the end because it is just too big. But that doesn't detract from the individual sections before that. Jim Marrs is one of the best writers in the genre, and this another good read from the author.

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Summary: Marrs does it again, in black, white and 'Grey'...
Review: Jim Marrs brings his usual insight to this book, more than any other one the easiest to understand of all of the "Total Truth" books (volumes that aren't just focused on one area, persay). He begins with a basic panoramic view of the world today, and then he brings us, one backstep at a time, throughout history, explaining Wars, Revolutions, myths, (I learned about the origins of the sinister connotations of Friday The 13th here before I read The Da Vinci Code) and, of course, Secret Societies and their hidden agendas. It is all here, probably as well researched as any of this information can be, for you to decide for yourself. The Icke-ish Reptillian theory maybe the hardest for people to buy, but, as one reviewer somewhere pointed out, if we can evolve from Monkeys, why not another animal? And if you have trouble believing huge Reptiles once ruled the earth, go talk to a Palentologist. Four Stars instead of Five because the Civil War chapter doesn't build a strong enough case for the possibility Rothschild influence. Definite must read, great place to start for Hidden Agendas

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Summary: More unoriginal disinformation
Review: Once again we have another author who uses the "associate outlandish theories with a select choice of facts" approach to conspiracy theory exposition. From this flawed premise one notices that this screed is no different to the many other "out there" conspiracy books yet this one is written by an author who should know better.

Not worth your time or money.

Rating:
Summary: Definitely for the open minded reader
Review: Jim Marrs is quite an intelligent, honest commentator on conspiracy theories and he attempts to uncover esoteric knowledge via various sources. I had time to read 'Rule by Secrecy' cover to cover - it is difficult to do so. The book provides an extensive overview of secret societies and attempts to give an alternative view of history. The problem is that this is impossible to do in one book, combined with the fact that solid proof backing up Marrs' theories is not often forthcoming or can be disputed. That said, I admire the tenacity, excellent organization, and cogently presented topics of the book. Marrs provides food for thought and even occasionally hints that the truth is yet to be discovered.

One of the premises of 'Rule by Secrecy' is that an accidental view of history, taught to everyone and accepted by most without having critically thought of the implications, is wrong. Marrs proposes a conspiratorial view of history (perfectly valid, by the way) to explain world history and our planet's present course. He weaves together a big picture, conspiratorial view of history by explaining the actions and structure of secret societies, past and present economic systems, past wars and past actions of key political figures, and other tidbits such as "Ancient Mysteries" (a revealing section at the end of the book).

Marrs makes a reasonable case that "a few people run everything". Uttering this type of phrase usually causes a person to be branded as paranoid or worse. Read this book - then see if you still agree that such a phrase is paranoid. Given our system of mass media, capitalistic socialism that hints at an ultimate goal of globalism, dynasties passed on from the robber barons with an interest in retaining power and wealth, and two dominant political parties in the United States that always seem to happen to produce candidates and Presidents from secret societies, the book tends to be more believable than one might suspect.

I particularly like the way Marrs ends 'Rule by Secrecy'. Even if the accidental view of history paradigm is the truth, he encourages the reader to be open minded and become more educated. No matter what conclusions you reach at the end of the book, the enormous effort and prodigious amount of research and work Marrs gave to the book makes it worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: A well-researched effort that fell short.
Review: I agree with one of the previous reviewers of this book when he mentioned that not very much of the information in this book is original. It is basically a summaration of sources that delve into the inner workings of the secret societies. He did an EXCELLENT job with the research.....BUT I can only read quotes and dates for so long until I get bored. Some of the views that he expresses are a bit far-fetched, but that is what a good conspiracy book is all about:-). Anyways....He tried very hard to convince the reader, through his many sources, that the viewpoint he was trying to make was the right one. I wasn't convinced and I am sure that the reader wasn't convinced either. I would have enjoyed this book much more if it was more MARRS and less SOURCES. Jim Maars is an excellent writer, but his talent was eclipsed with the unnecessary amount of sources, thus I gave him 3 Stars.

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Summary: A great place to finish up
Review: To be brief: After having read dozens and dozens of books on the various subjects that this book touches upon...books like, Report from Iron Mountain, 12th planet, You are being lied to, Gods of the new millenium (a good book that the author later thought was not a good book...very strange), Forbidden Archeology, Flying Serpents and Dragons, and UFO Books, and Books on the illiminati, the Knights Templar and on and on and on....It was nice to read a book that managed to encapsulate all of the stuff that I had been reading for years, put it in some kind of order and present it. If this is your first book on this subject, you will get a full shot of information, but you will not have had the pleasure of building up your knowledge base first and deciding for yourself through your readings what might be true, sort of true or not true. It would be like seeing a sequel to a movie before you have seen or even heard about the first movie.
But, I give it 5 stars for the excellent manner that Mr. Marrs used to gather all the information out there and condense it into a readable, logical format. It should belong in any conspiracy buff's, 'someone-was-here-before-us' buff's and the truth is out there buff's library.