Rating: 
Summary: Absurd paranoid ramblings of a pseudo-journalist
Review: If there's one thing that can be said about Jim Marrs it's that he doesn't let the facts get in the way of a good theory. Don't let the back cover blurb fool you into thinking that Marrs is a respected journalist, or that "Rule by Secrecy" is a serious investigation of secret societies: it is nothing more than a rehash of the maddest babblings of the most notorious of conspiracy theorists.Marrs quotes extensively such seminal scholars as: - David Icke, professional soccer player turned television snooker commentator who announced "I am the son of God" on British national television - to the presumed surprise of the interviewer - and went on to predict that Cuba would sink into the ocean before the end of the last century; - Laurence Gardner, self-proclaimed "internationally known sovereign and chivalric genealogist" and ardent supporter of "Prince" Michael of Albany (aka Belgian Michel Lafosse) whose claim to the British throne was described by a proper genealogist as "wholly fictional" and "filled with falsehoods." Biblical scholar J. P. Holding called Gardner "uncritically insane" and described his book "Bloodline of the Holy Grail" as "sensationalistic trash;" - Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln, supremely gullible amateur historians who took it upon themselves to write three giant tomes on Biblical history without first suffering through the inconvenience of obtaining qualifications in, say, Biblical or Ancient Near Eastern studies, or publishing a single peer-reviewed paper between them; - Nesta H. Webster, who became interested in conspiracy theories after a visit to Paris where a mystical experience led her to believe she was the reincarnation of a French countess executed during the Revolution. She later became an apologist for Hitler and influenced Fascist groups such as the National Front, a fact that Marrs neglects to mention; - Erich von Daniken, who claims extraterrestrial creatures are responsible for the most ancient civilizations on Earth and backed his claims with "ancient" pottery depicting flying saucers. Unfortunately for Daniken, PBS's "Nova" and the BBC's "Horizon" programmes tracked down and interviewed the potter who made the pots. Daniken responded that his deception was justified because some people would only believe if they saw "proof"; and - Lawyer, politician and fantasist Ignatius Donnelly (or "scholar Ignatus [sic] Donnelly," as Marrs puts it), whose "Atlantis: The Antediluvian World" was so preposterous as to be essentially a work of fiction, and yet is exhaustively quoted as fact by Atlantis believers to this day. Drawing from the writings of such learned academics, it is hardly surprising that Marrs reaches a fantastic conclusion: that the "ancient mysteries" being guarded by secret societies are revealed in the theories of Zecharia Sitchin. Sitchin's "translations" of Sumerian clay tablets (characterized by one linguist as "riddled with fundamental errors") reveal that human civilization was created by an alien race in need of slaves to mine gold. This gold was to be shot into the atmosphere of their home planet to plug holes in their ozone layer, and they communicated with humankind through the Ark of the Covenant, which was (surprise!) a radio transmitter and receiver. Exactly why an alien race advanced enough to travel across the universe and modify human genes would need humans to help them mine for gold is never explained, nor why they would have to get their gold from Earth in the first place. Marrs accepts without criticism any theory, no matter how absurd - theories that would cause L. Ron Hubbard to fidget uncomfortably - and embraces all manner of junk science as fact. Marrs is, in other words, kookiness personified. He is a pseudo-journalist of the worst kind. A box has not yet been constructed that could contain all the chutzpah necessary to publish this book, and it does not reflect well on Perennial, a HarperCollins imprint. Any secret society believing this piffle poses to humaity absolutely no threat whatsoever.
Rating: 
Summary: Good summer vacation reading...
Review: This book took a while to get into but eventually proved a good source of information for those interested in the "advanced ancient technology" thought line. First of all lets say that the author truly digs out copious facts and presents them fairly coherently but that he knows he is producing a salable product so he works hard to make something out of nothing at times. As a book on conspiracy theory, first of all I buy the hypothesis that relative small numbers of high class money-bag families seek to dominate economies thru interrelated board memberships, back room deals, buying politicians, etc. However, I don't particularly buy that all world governments are puppets for 2 or 3 elitist groups. I believe the author is right on about the Kennedy assasination and Vietnam "war is good business" conspiracies if you want to call them such. Marrs did a particularly good job later in the book going into the history of the Knights Templar, Cathars, etc. And the section on possible interpretations of ancient Sumerian history was excellent. As an avid reader of other popular books studying the possibility of advanced ancient societies, I found this section easy to read and follow. FYI, Marrs describes how the ancient Sumerian "mythology" could be an onhand historical account of how aliens visited the earth, contributed or caused the emergence of the human race, and how those earlier histories came to their demise. Hey, you don't have to believe it in order for it to be thought provoking and interesting. As long as the author is not "making it up" I have time to read and consider with an open mind.
Rating:
Summary: Well, of COURSE it's a buncha hoo-hah!
Review: I enjoyed reading this book...But this book actually tries to frame this scholarship and the conclusions jumped to therefrom as being REAL....Let me tell you a little secret: any aliens with the technology for interstellar travel who would, first off detect us, and second off, care about our presence and bother to come here, wouldn't need to assimilate themselves or infiltrate our government. A single ship of such an advanced race, were they not altruistic, would probably be sufficient to conquer us. And as for the psychic spies, how come they didn't detect Marrs' insights and forestall the publishing of his book? Could it be for the same reasons that the mass media (of whom Marrs considers himself a member, calling himself a journalist and confounding the trade by doing so) hasn't smothered _Rule By Secrecy_? Still, this piece of work, so fundamentally lacking in legitimate documentation, so dependent upon specious scholarship, so fond of promoting unsubstantiated rumor, makes for a fun read. The repetition of legend as fact, and the creativity involved in linking the secret societies of years past with events past and present makes for an interesting story (and let me reimphasize "story.") It's interesting to note that Marrs, a UFO enthusiast, refrains from mentioning our astral neighbors, presumably in an attempt to make his book seem more legitimate to the SANE members of society who stumble across it. I was drawn to this book by an interest in secret societies. It is not the purpose of this review to downplay the importance of such societies' place in the world. ...There are missing almost entirely from Marrs "research," except for one mention of an "Infamous Chinese Triad Society" which stemmed from a Chinese Masonic Lodge. First of all, triad is a term which describes many secret societies, it isn't one group. Secondly, triads predate Masonry. ... Read this book if you must, but don't believe a word of it. Like I said, I found it amusing, but came away wondering if this ... was part of a conspiracy to distract us from what is REALLY going on.
Rating: 
Summary: Marrs tells it like it is
Review: A truly great book! Marrs starts by giving us the most recent escapades of the conspiracy with the CFR, the trilateral commission and then gives us evidence for more ancient conspiracies such as the illumanati, political trickery and all the rest the power mad can think up of. He gives great details on all the various conspiracies and seems to link them to a common source such as the illumanati or the Alien beings who pretend to play the parts of God and Satan. The book also gives excellent practical advice on looking at all the evidence to find the truth, something most "expert" researchers ignore. He should have recommended reading Platos Republic. In the Republic Plato gives his famous allegory of the cave, to show how people can be blinded to the truth, no matter what the evidence is. Well done Jim Marrs!
Rating:
Summary: Rule by Secrecy
Review: It is very unfortunate that the Amazon rating system does not accomodate a "no-star" or better yet "a negative star" system. This book is "a joke"!!! At best the author got himself very confused as to which of the so-called secret societies is actually the most secret of them all and what their agenda is all about (I know it must have been difficult to try and figure out all these 'secrets'...) I was particularly amuzed by the author's suggestion re. Hitler's and Rothschild's common heritage!? It goes down hill from there... Save your time and money.. Please!!!
Rating:
Summary: Just a couple of questions...
Review: If this "analysis" is correct, and few elite indeed dominate the world, why would the powers that (supposedly) be allow Mr. Marrs to write about it? If "they" control the news do they not also control which books are published? Would they not at least eliminate the "enlightened" among us? Why are the books written by Marrs and his ilk allowed to sit on the shelves of our libraries? Or maybe this and similar works are actually written by The Establishment, but are full of false information to throw us off the track... Is "Jim Marrs" one of THEM?!?
Rating:
Summary: Rule by Secrecy - Unchecked facts and Unsupported claims
Review: The author warns us in his introduction what to expect. He writes: "There is no guarantee that all of the information presented here is the absolute ground truth" and "But to get a grasp on truth requires as much data as possible. Nothing should be dismissed out of hand. All information, no matter how seemingly outlandish or inconsequential, should be considered and evaluated." He is telling us right up front that what he has produced is no so much a book as a do-it-yourself kit, some of whose parts may be defective. Many are. The author seems to have looked for sources that support his conspiratorial view of the world, and used them without either evaluating their quality or checking their facts. For example, Marrs erroneously names Bruce (not Wallace) as King Edward I's enemy at the Battle of Stirling Bridge, and attributes the rout of the King's army to the appearance of a few dozen Templars. Perhaps he was thinking of Bannockburn, where Bruce defeated King Edward II with the aid of some French soldiers who might(?) have been Templars. The error isn't important to his line of argument; the significance is that it's such an easy fact to check. Factual accuracy is fundamental - you can't trust inferences based on untrustworthy factual claims. Worse, the inferences - in this example (supported only the claim of unnamed "mason writers") that the mere presence of a few dozen knights could cause an army of thousands to drop its weapons and run - anchor conclusions which would have serious implications if they were true. Marrs writes that George Washington lost Fort Necessity on instruction from the Freemasons, because they wanted grist for the issue that taxes ostensibly collected for the defense of the colonies were not being used for the purpose. His evidence for this claim is only that Washington was a Freemason, that he suffered the defeat, and that the defeat was later used in that way. Far-fetched does not begin to describe it. The book is littered with similar examples of the author claiming to infer intent from result. It is also replete with cases where the author invokes conspiracies to account for phenomena which can be explained and understood without resort to them. It recites, for example, an impressive set of facts to show that the media cover junk news extensively but give scanty coverage to really important news, especially news that could adversely affect the conglomerates that won them. The facts accord with experience and common sense, and one can agree there is a problem. But the conspiracy connection isn't even argued. Marrs just assumes that if you agree with his characterization of the problem, you must agree with his explanation. One might equally argue that junk food is harmful, therefore the manufacturers of junk food have conspired to poison us. It doesn't stop with non sequitur. Dishonorable rhetorical devices also abound, most frequently the forestalling of possible disagreement with outlandish claims by introducing them with "No one denies that ..." and similar phrases. At best, the author has provided us with an ore of unknown grade, and left it to his readers to sort the metal (if any) from the slag. Perhaps he is hoping someone will write to tell him which is which. If this book has any value at all, it is as a window into the astonishingly low standards for factual accuracy and reasoning that some of the people who are receptive to conspiratorial explanations seem willing to tolerate.
Rating: 
Summary: The Invisible Government
Review: Do secret societies truly exist? Is there a worldwide conspiracy bent on subversion of freedom and democracy? Or is it just the irrational ramblings of "conspiracy theorists"? This book attempts to answer these questions. Do people believe that individuals with vast wealth and power, and unknown to the public, are the real masters in the U.S.? Are key political, economic, and social decisions made by a tiny minority? We know that very few people own most of the net financial assets, and their share has been increasing during the 1990s. Is this natural evolution, or planning for a New World Order? The chapter on "Secrets of Money and the Federal Reserve System" is a good example to show how this racket works. He writes how private bankers conspired to create the Federal Reserve System - which gave them control over the nation's money supply. The U.S. borrows money from them, and pays interest on it - the national debt. Its like your paycheck being deposited into your employer's bank, and you being charged to borrow your own money! In effect, the U.S. taxes everybody to benefit these private bankers. In June 1963 President Kennedy authorized the issuance of "United States Notes" through the U.S. Treasury (as the Constitution requires) to lower the national debt (p.129). The next President soon reversed this order (p.131). The 1996 "Report from Iron Mountain" seems like a blueprint for the events leading to today's society (pp. 113-117).
Rating:
Summary: Oh, brother..."Paranoia can be fun"
Review: You know, if you quote anyone who agrees with your own outlook and don't provide detailed proofs of the claims, you could probably even proove that the earth really is flat and we're all living on Mars! So, Marrs takes every paranoid idea and mixes them all up as if they are established truth, and comes up with a book not quite as funny as "Illuminatus" (though I couldn't help laughing out loud at times only because of how poorly Marrs attempts to make his case), nor at all as intelligent as "Foucault's Pendulum" (a true send-up of secrets within secrets). The problem is poor Marrs wants us to take this all seriously, but it reads like a poorly researched high-school thesis. Look, just because someone claims the moon is made of swiss-cheese does not mean it's true. Now, if you really want to know the truth behind everything...there's a super secret civilization buried in the Amazon that controls everything you read, think or believe..and the Atlantis legend was planted to mislead you all...and how do I know this...hell, I just made it up!! I would have given this book NO stars, but I was prevented by the Council on Foreign Relations....
Rating:
Summary: Yes...there is a secret conspiracy alright....
Review: And the conspiracy is that you can prove anything if you quote the right person. That the person quoted doesn't know what he or she is talking about is irrelevant. Okay, here's the truth. You are all genetically re-engineered mindless automatons created to serve me!!! (Now, if you can swallow that nonsense, you're ready to believe the stuff in this book, too). On the other hand, if you need a good laugh...give it five stars! But, if you really, really believe that this is all a conspiracy, send yourself back to kindergarten and grow up!
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