Rating: 
Summary: History Lovers Smorgasboard
Review: "Rule by Secrecy" deserves five stars on history value alone. Easy reading, leaving the reader the option of researching interesting materal further. I was constantly on the internet verifying Marrs material and further research. The presentation of the text could be fustrating, but you will be plesantly suprised when everything comes together.
Rating: 
Summary: Establishment propaganda
Review: In case you haven't grasped it yet, books like this one (which are in mainstream distribution) are not revealing anything. If they did, they'd never get into print by a mainstream publisher OR into mainstream distribution. Now, if you want genuine information about this subject, get "Secret Societies and Psychological Warfare" , "Judaism's Strange Gods", and "Carnivals or Life and Death". Two of these are available from amazon.com - all are self published. They are carefully kept out of book reviews, mainstream distribution, and major publishers ALL are careful to aviod printing them....the author had to self publish, but the information is something that will make the stuff in this book look like child's play!
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting
Review: A classic conspiracy book. Marrs makes very interesting arguments in defense of the belief that the world is and forever has been dominated by crazy, greedy men who come together with other crazy, greedy men to form crazy, greedy organizations. I felt Marrs ruined his book at the end when he writes a multi-page account of his apparent belief that the world was created by aliens. Other than that, it was OK.
Rating: 
Summary: Tells us more about the readers than the content
Review: Having recently finished this book, I am fascinated by the world of conspiracy theorists and moreover by the people that hang on the every word with an evangelical desire to "wake the sleepers"...First up - this book is entertaining - mostly as a rehash of the gamut of conspiracy theories - from the Knights Templar's going underground into the Masons, to the hackneyed diatribes about the Bilderbergs, Trilateral Commission etc... What the book does not do is provide any real evidence of anything. Marrs' "sources" are secondary sources by other conspiracy theorists - and they are gulped down by the same people that write breathless reviews about this being essential reading for "everyone on the planet" - or more frighteningly, that this is an essential text on history. What emerges at the end of the book is the idea that the human reace are the creation of a race from the twelfth planet of the solar system, who came to Sumeria to mine gold flakes to fix a hole in their Ozone layer [?] - and that they "created" the human race through selective interbreeding to do the digging. How else could any aspect of human civilisation have begun? Along the way, Marrs quotes such famous wackos as David Icke and Einrich Von Daniken, while plagarising texts on Hitler's secret plan to control the lance that pierced Jesus' side [yeah....right....] I have to agree with the guy from Canada - there is no real scholarship here - the connection between the Pyramids and the Trilateral Commission is not even touched at, and the "theory" that the Trilateral Commission is a Rockefeller inspired plot to sandwich the Illuminati into all areas of Government is facile. What about the alternative theory that the CFR and Trilateral Commission are think tanks that attract people with an interest in global policy, and that when Government advisers are sought with a wide perspective on these issues they occasionally come up as candidates? There is no empirical evidence of anything about the Trilateral Commission because - it's a secret.....so let's make a paranoid guess huh? Have a look at the memberships of these groups - there are politicians, business leaders... but also journalists and academics - who really don't have that much political oompf - maybe they're really top level secret society members? or decoys to make these groups look innocent? Or maybe it really isn't all that - that the push to internationalism in commerce is a fact of modern society and globalism should be addressed at a realistic policy level - not by shaking your fist at the Rockefellers and Rothschilds. Sure stuff like the Skull and Bones Society is a Yale Old Boys network of WASPs that engage in serial cronyism - duh - but relegating the role of dialectic in history to a Hagellian plot to divide and conquer is simply dumb. Easy after reading this to suppose that Bush is an Illuminati initiate via the Skull and Bones who has made a deal with the Rockefellers to invade Iraq for the Oil, while secretly getting access to hidden and mystical Sumerian manuscripts that lie buried in Southern Iraq.... hey.. I should be a conspiracy "scholar". What about simply calling monopoly capitalism what it is? Jim points out that banks are tightly involved with the supply of money - it's called a free market. Would he prefer that a government bureaucracy set interest rates? - I forgot - they're all in it too.... Sure the banks that underwrote the dot.com IPOs gave the stock to their clients [and themselves] to make absurd profits by flipping stocks on the back of [greedy] retail investors - it's just capitalism to the nth degree - but i doubt that everyone wore funny cloaks at Bohemian Grove to think it up..... What about simply seeing nepotism as simply that - networking with effect - and as for the flying saucers - puhleeze... David Icke's "revelation" that all world leaders are really alien reptiles masquerading as humans [and assertion that several Hollywood Movies show things as they "really" are....] Sorry Jim - David Icke's the man here. and for all of the so called "researchers" ... gobble it up....
Rating:
Summary: The world needs more men like Jim Marrs
Review: In this age of information, it's such a naive cliche to label free-thinking, analytical minds such as Jim Marrs as "conspiracy theorists." A few reviewers who claim Marrs is "paranoid" and his research "sloppy" are missing the deeper significance this information has in its potential to stimulate critical thinking in a society not well trained in the process. Evidence of well-guarded information and conspiracies from the C.I.A to corporate profiteering strategies to KFC's secret herbs and spices abound the globe over; which makes Marr's research all the more compelling. This is the history that "they" don't want you to know about because "they" hide their true motivations and agendas behind the cloaks of secret societies. In light of the current political climate and the issue of secrecy in government and business, it behooves us to question the status quo -- even at the risk of being called "paranoid." That's just another naive cliche anyway... The fact that very few readers will have ever been exposed to this information makes Rule by Secrecy a MUST READ for any concerned citizen and humanitarian. Marrs casually lays out his painstaking research for all to see and allows us all to make our own connections.
Rating:
Summary: Marrs: Example of the Lack of Critical Thinking Capability
Review: (Renewed Review)
In my quest for a conspiracy book that would stand up, against even common sense logic, Marrs, one of the giants of conspiracy theory, falls flat on his face. I bought the book on the assumption that maybe Marrs would come up with a workable definition of "conspiracy" or even "secret society" and then rigourously subject his examples to scientific rigour and logic. Maybe he would end up with a barely believable and thought provoking book. Unfortunately this book will only appeal to those people who already have a paranoia that needs proving. It is not even a particularly good read. Marrs seemingly starts with rough premise eg. Is the Trilateral Commission a secret society? He then produces a series of facts stating such banal things that this international organisation is made up of powerful people... who are international specialists. Well surpise on that one --- that is precisely why and what the organisation was founded for -- to study international society in order to stimulate cooperation and agreement across a number of levels. The above example betrays a few traits of the muddle-headed thinking of conspiracy theorists: 1) Basic lack of any notion of political theory. Marrs had better read a few text books on International Relations. There the central question of IR is how does one resolve conflict in the era of sovereign states? One of the way to do this --- and it has been around since Hobbes and Kant --- is to discuss overarching levels of government to enhance cooperation and integration. The EEU and other international organisations are examples of this. Indeed it is one of constants of history that states emerge from county and regional entities. At some point with higher development of states it is stupid to think that one nation can 100% control its own destiny, it must cooperate and concede authority in certain areas to overarching political institutions (the UN, NATO, Red Cross, etc.) -- that is also one of the central issues of US and world foreign policy --- how does the the US deals with this challenge. This is a subject for political science and economics to work out --- it has nothing to do with conspiracy theories. 2) Marrs is not just a TERRIBLE historian, he has no idea of the discipline whatsoever (no adequate footnotes, a bibliography that includes ONLY secondary sources of his fellow conspiracy theorists, no first sources, and, what is worst, he has not cited a single authoritative reference for any historical event he decsribes --- you will find no authoritative sources on WWI, WWII, Vietnam or the Korean War.... or any other historical event he describes). His understanding of both international organisations and the events that spawned them is not just facile, it is plain puerile. Marr's Cook's tour of every historical event and organisation may sound interesting (I would never say convincing, because I would like to believe that the average reader is smarter than Marrs would have us believe); eg, His idea that Woodrow Wilson was a member of secret society that tried to foist the League of Nations on the US is plainly, forgive me, [dumb] in the extreme --- read some books on this era Mr. Marrs! WWI assailed the conscience of Mankind. It changed the way people thought necessarily, and forced them to look at the only real way of avoiding or dampening conflict --- a world body with the authority to censure members --- the League of Nations. It was before its time, but it is function of political and historical analysis, not secret societies. 3) Marrs obviously has no idea what constitutes science. He has not been taught to reason from a basic premise and subject his thoughts to scrutiny and empirical analysis. His ideas are all over the place. He can cite some facts, such as that the people on the trilateral commission are important and influential --- but not a shred of evidence that these people are engaged in a conspiracy. Such is a real waste of paper. Everyone knows that politcally motivated people join groups: I can predict that the National Republican Committee is filled with influential people --- I cannot prove that it is a conspiratorial organisation. And Marrs has not a single shred of proof that these organisations are conspiratorial in the sense that they "engage in the secret planning for the detriment of the nation." Marrs' logic is very contradictory: he calls upon us to be open-minded and consider all examples "however crazy." In the next paragraph he then states that his task is not to consider groups like Heavens Gate or other such societies since they are cleary inconsequential and local. I cannot think of a more whacked out group than Heaven's Gate, so why not analyse them? He then ends up by the end of the book throwing in every mythical, mystical group or concept ever invented since Shirley Maclaine went on an bad acid trip. Atlantis, UFOs etc. The only thing missing is the land of Mu and the tooth fairy. 4) Unlike books like "Holy Blood, Holy Grail," which have a somewhat interesting idea and analysis of a group that is developed with somewhat interesting historical detail --- you can learn something from reading Holy Blood! --- You can learn nothing from Marrs except how to think poorly about the world around you. Once again a real good antidote for this book would be some popular science by Carl Sagan, a good read of any International Relations textbook, a good read of some history in general and a few editions of the Skeptical Inquirer. As is so often the case with mystics and the crooked thinkers, Marrs thinks that a cursory look at a subject will reveal true knowledge and understanding. He is in fact treading on not just swampy logic but appears to lack even rudimentary knowledge of science, history or any other proper education that would innoculate him against the plague of gross mistaken thinking that he so admirably displays in this book. As for Mr. Boylen and his Ph.D. (previous reviewer) --- is he serious --- which crakerjack box did he obtain it from.
Rating:
Summary: Marrs Exposes the Ultimate Secret 6000 Years Old
Review: I heartily recommend Jim Marrs's book, "Rule By Secrecy",
which I have just finished.It condenses into one place information on secrecy-holders from te present to the dawn of civilization, and how the holders of such secrets have wielded enormous power from what they knew. Quoting the summary: Marrs exposes "clandestine cabals, ...unearths startling evidence that the real movers and shakers covertly coilluded to start and stop wars, manipulate stock markets and interest rates, maintain class distinctions, and even censor the six o'clock news. And they do this under the mindful auspices of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission, the Bilderbergers, the CIA, and even the Vatican."
Marrs ties current current secret groups to the keepers of the original lore about mankind's origin at the hands of a Star Visitor culture in Mesopotamia and in Africa.
A HarperCollins Perennial Paperback. The best moneyyou'll spend this year. Richard Boylan, Ph.D.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining but...
Review: Jim Marrs' science fiction starts out strong with a lot of peripheral information on groups like the Trilateral Commission. Unfortunately, that is as far as it goes. He never gets into the real inner workings of these groups. Still, it was entertaining to read about some of them. Towards the middle of the book he falls into biblical references that just about put me to sleep. In the end, the book does not deliver the "connection between the trilateral commission, freemasons, and the great pyramids." The title is misleading. The fundamental flaw in his logic is the belief that these secrets are so well kept that nobody outside of the circle can discover them. On the contrary, in the United States we are notoriously BAD at keeping secrets, government secrets, military secrets, and commercial secrets alike. Look at how bad we have been stomped in intelligence by the Chinese and the Russians in the past. The fact is that in nearly every group, given a long enough history, you will find some disgruntled employee who is going to get even by "blabbing the truth." This is especially true in the military.
Rating:
Summary: Not one to have my beliefs shaken, but...
Review: I absolutely love this book. It has forced me to think and stretch my mind to heights and widths I never imagined I could stretch. First of all I am a biblical christian if I am to be classified as anything. My faith falls short on many levels, but I have always maintained a contemporary christian Catholic system of belief. This book, however, has really caused me to re-think my belief system and question the motives of all politicians, banks, world leaders,religions, etc... The details within the book are convincing enough to be very disturbing at best. The most interesting reading in my opinion is about the creation of human civilization and the Sumerian cuniform texts. I don't want to create a series of cliff notes here, but I will say that this book offers what seems to be fairly solid proof of some pre-bible history and parallel stories of the bible which occurred many thousands of years prior. Please take the time to read this book and decide for yourself. Some of the reading was a bit hard to swallow, but for the most part convincing and even disturbing. The author took some quality time, care and research to compile this work and I think you will be satisfied...no matter what you believe.
Rating:
Summary: Alot of Facts and A lot of Propaganda
Review: Always keep in mind that good propaganda is like rat poison: 90% sweet (truth) and 5-10% poison (propaganda). Marrs is a "former" US Army Intelligence agent. He does a good job of drawing surface links of masons to the "conspiracy". You must be prepared to do further research to discover the omissions and half truths. When you read this book (if you do): REMEMBER that the principle of "You will know them by their fruits" is historically more accurate than the principle of "you will know them by their rhetoric" (especially in this day of controlled media propaganda).
Freemasons must be demonized at all costs in Tyrranical, Despotic , Fascist governments as theiir teachings are of liberty, justice, and equality....the anti-thesis of the current government and past fascist regimes. YOU WILL KNOW THEM BY THEIR FRUITS.
Former Virulent Anti-Masons: Stalin Hitler, Mussolini and a whole gaggle of tyrrants and fascists. Masons were murdered and plundered by the millions by the above regimes. TThat Masons were sent to Hitlers camps is deleted from your history books. This has been carefully edited out of history indoctrination in the US.
Famous Masons: Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Paul Revere, John Hancock, Davy Crockett, Paul Revere, Diderot, Voltaire, 27 signers of the American Constitution, 9 signers of the Declaration of Independence.
Do a search for the article : The Annihilation of Freemasonry
by Sven G. Lunden on the Internet and for famous Masons and learn why the elites are so scared of the Masons fighting tyrrany as they did in the American and French Revolutions.
I would also suggest you balance the "information" on aliens Marrs provides with the book "The Stargate" Conspiracy which deals with Government Intelligence agencies promoting the new "alien" enemy (Communists.....terrroists....aliens). The 1st 2 are now know "created" enemies.
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