Customer Reviews

Perfectibilists: The 18th Century Bavarian Order of the Illuminati

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Possibly the most important English language work on the Bavarian Illuminati ever published to date. Based on documentation translated from French and German sources, Melanson keeps hysteria and paranoia to a minimum and provides an incredible reference work that outlines the history of the Order and its far-reaching cast of characters. Researched, footnoted and sourced in great detail, with documents never seen in English. Not the first book to pick up, as it assumes a certain amount of prior knowledge of the subject (see the Illuminati section of Vernon Stauffer's 'New England and the Bavarian Illuminati', which contains one of the best introductions on the Order to date), but VERY highly recommended to the serious scholar.

Only two reservations. First, the 'Skull & Bones' chapter seems to have flown in from another planet (or possibly a marketing department's request), and it stands out oddly. Second, Melanson makes no distinction between the different factions of Freemasonry that were expanding in continental Europe in the 1700s. Stauffer does a good job pointing out the differences in his book between the social club Anglo-Saxon Masons; the mystical Rosicrucian-style Masons who were attempting to make their brand more mysterious; and the Enlightenment social reformers of the Grand Orient of France who were involved in political movements. One style of Masonry was not the same as the next, and each had very different goals. But this is possibly a minor point and my own obsession.

I disagree strongly with Melanson's[...] website on a regular basis, and I think he and his fellow bloggers there seek boogeymen and a hyper-competent all-seeing, all-knowing criminal class of evildoers that control the world. But The Perfectibilists does not engage in the hysterics of that website. Melanson has produced a solid work of scholarship, and he is to be commended.

I have studied the Illuminati for years through various conspiracy books and websites. There can be a lot of confusion and misconceptions about who they were and what they were trying to accomplish. If I only had this book years ago, my research would have been faster and more complete. The book is well sourced, giving follow up reading, websites as well as known members. This is probably the most in depth volume on the Illuminati that you can find without having to learn German. Hopefully this trend will continue, and the public will take more interest in the enlightenment societies that shaped our nation and western civilization for that matter.

I had been awaiting this book for some time and it was indeed worth the wait. Having being fascinated with the idea of "societies with secrets" and subversive movements for some time that begun with readings from the author's website that is chiefly concerned with the Bavarian Illuminati (not to be confused with the catch all term "Illuminati" in use in the present day to describe any super-elite group that is theorised to control the world in a monolithic conspiracy), the subversive organisation started by one Adam Weishaupt of Ingolstadt, Bavaria in order to install the rule of reason in place of the irrational and elitist dominion of the monarchy & religious institutes of the day. A product indeed of the Enlightenment, this group's hidden multiplicity of hands had the status quo in a tither as to what to do in order to counter Weishaupt's plan to eliminate the rule of kings (while having the genius to use some members of the aristocracy to this end) and institute a Rousseauian flavoured primitivist, egalitarian Utopia in it's place throughout Europe and the world. Well, at least on the surface of things.

As referenced in Melanson's book, Peggy Pawlowski in her doctoral thesis described the Bavarian Illuminati thus: "...the Illuminati can be thought of as the executive arm of the Aufklärung [the German Enlightenment]."

This does appear to be so. The intellectual might that was invested as members of the order is impressive. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe; Johann Pestalozzi, a pioneer of modern educational methods; the philosopher & theologian Johann Gottfried von Herder; philosopher Jacob Friedrich von Abel; amongst some of the most notable. Numerous members of the royal milieu of Europe at the time such as Karl, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel was an important member, through him the Rothschild dynasty truly begun, and Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg also was an Illuminatus, direct through him emanated the British Royal line of modern times.

There is a dearth of decent scholarly works on the Bavarian Illuminati in the present day, especially considering the primary and secondary sources available to the willing seeker now (mostly in German it seems) so the information mined by the author from various texts in different languages is translated to English and makes its first appearance in that tongue. There is much brand new material here for the English speaking world.

My only real gripe with the book is that the interior design is a bit busy at times with the placement of relevant photos and diagrams, but the content therein more than makes up for this minor issue. There are a wealth of footnotes and references here for the amateur researcher, as well as the more serious scholar, to enrich their knowledge of this truly fascinating order whose design and vision for a globalized Utopia devoid of nation states, whose doctrinal influence may indeed be shown in the writings of Marx & Engels, who also perhaps pioneered the form of the subversive revolutionary cell and thought as we know it, and thus the Bavarian Illuminati, while not existing today as a monolithic cabal that controls the world, seems to have had a hand in helping to shape the political, educational, philosophical, and intellectual landscape of the modern world.

This is not a book about "conspiracy theory". Its a book of genuine history and constitutes conspiracy fact. Its worth a read.

As a long-ago Bircher & a now-mellow Christian bleeding-heart-right-wing-libertarian, THIS is the best book now in English on the historical Illuminati. I was amazed to see how much Conspiracy-Theory could now be documented and I was gladdened to see some old counter-productive myths totally debunked. The Illuminati was real, was a threat, and there are wanna-be Illuminati now who want to pose similar threats. BUT there is no indication that there IS an Illuminati with nigh-unstoppable power. I wish someone had done this book back in my Birchy phase of 1979-1982. I wouldn't have gone overboard one way and then dropped it totally when I got disillusioned.

From now on, no one has the right to opine on the Illuminati unless they either have read this book or shows themselves to be more knowledgeable than Terry Melanson.

First things first, I am a male in my late twenties of German decent. I am university educated and my favorite time period is the enlightenment. I absolutely love this book. For years I was wondering why no one has worked on the REAL history of this society in English in recent times. I am fluent in German and have read a few original text excerpts from Weishaupt's books. I am a huge fan of Thomas Paine, John Locke, Voltaire and Rousseau. A goal of this organization was to stop the abuses committed by the upper class on the lower classes. Another goal of this society was to destroy the control put on people by organized religion. The means of this society was to educate people in the virtues of a strong character and to influence positions of power behind closed doors in various fields of life to reach their goals. The original name Perfectibiles means the perfectibility of man. I enjoy that the author stuck to the facts. So to follow I posed some questions one might have.
Are the Illuminati running the world?
No.... Capitalists, free markets and corporations are running the world. I can write a whole book on the economic benefits of corporations. But, it can be summed up by simply stating they circulate capital. If you are concerned with who is currently running the world you should look into the Bilderberg Group, The Council on Foreign Relations and The Trilateral Commission just to name a few. Many former presidents have warned the American public about mega industrialists. (Eisenhower, Kennedy, etc) Many such organizations follow the same pattern of clandestine meetings and people in high places that the illuminati is famous for. But, the ideology is different.

What could the Illuminati have directly influenced?
The fall of monarchies in Europe, the American revolution, the increased availability of education in Europe, the spreading of enlightenment ideals, and the French revolution.

What could the Illuminati have indirectly influenced?
American political policy up until 1900, communism and socialism.

If they were liberal or conservative by today's standards which would they be?
Liberal.

Did they worship the devil, want to enslave mankind or press the lower classes into submission?
No!!!! Once again maybe other organizations did, but that was not their ideology.

Did they want to overthrow the government of the time and were they atheists?
They probably were atheists or deists. The government of the time did end up getting overthrown. The world was run by kings, dukes, monarchies, the Roman Empire and corrupt governments in general. That system was replaced with democracy.

Why is the term Illuminati used to describe so many alleged back room shady organizations that attempt to influence the world and rattle government?
Because they were an organization that made back room deals and attempted to influence the world. However, the government of today and the government of yesterday are completely different.
This is a good unbiased book, for the most part. I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in the subject. I also commend the author for his tedious research.

It is a mystery that so few academic historians have researched the Bavarian Illuminati and I should be grateful for this volume, nevertheless, it is very dissatisfying. Although you can get some sense of who the Illuminati were, and what their goals were, and what the structure of their organization was, it isn't until the end of the book that one can begin to make sense of the information. There is no indication that Mr. Melanson went to Europe and took time to research the primary sources. While each chapter has plenty of endnotes citing many secondary sources, one gets the sense that most of the ideas and information in this book come from Abbe Barruel's History of Jacobinism and a few other texts. The one chapter on the Illuminati on the years that they existed (1776 - 1787) is 25 pages long (not including endnotes) and if you take out all the illustration, it is about 20 pages of text and is written in the form of a time line. The remaining chapters focus on the other organizations: (Freemasons, Jacobins, Skull and Bones, the Fabians) and produces little info to prove there is a relationship between them and Adam Weishaupt's secret group. One gets the sense that the author is just filling space by taking quotes and ideas from one book and then stringing them together in a fashion that defies all forms of logic except chronology.

If the academic world wanted to present a history of the Illuminati, they would take someone like Mr. Melanson, give him the academic training, and send him to Europe for six months on a stipend and help him to produce a well researched and written history. For this reason, I give him two (not one) stars for his efforts, under the circumstances.

I read this book and found it very informative. I was not knew to the subject matter but if I had been the book would have even been better. The first well documented first source document book on the history of the Illuminati in my opinion. I hope the author plans on translating much of the foreign language original source documents and publishes them. What a treasure trove! If you are looking for a history of the "known" Illuminati - this is the book.

Secret societies make for great yarns or movies - but there are those secret societies that have actually existed. "Perfectibilists: The 18th Century Bavarian Order of the Illuminati" tells the history of one such secret society, based in Bavaria about two hundred years ago. Detailing the group's members, its goals, and how successful it ultimately became, "Perfectibilists" is a treat for any with an interest in secret societies, and who want to learn about one that truly existed. "Perfectibilists" is an intriguing read of history, sure to fascinate.

The un-needed chapter on Skull and Bones can easily be skipped in an otherwise soundly grounded book. There are a few alias missing from certain persons in the index, this is due more to lack of documentation rather than negligence by the author. Should one day English Translations of Weishaupt's works become available there would be little room to argue with the author on the quality of the work.

For a long time I've been interested in historical Illuminati accounts (as opposed to the fictional or conspiracy-inspired accounts) and vacillated on whether to buy this book. The bio of the author clearly states he runs the Illuminati website, which suggested conspiracy theories to me. But, I eventually overcame my misgivings and bought it. This book is an amateur history of the Illuminati, but, even so, gives amateur history a good name. The writing is competent, but does digress in several places. Occasionally, I wondered if I had skipped a few pages since the subject or topic of the chapter suddenly changed. The pictures of Illuminati members, symbols, and other documents are wonderful, but I would have liked to see them as plates instead of pasted in the text (I'm sure this was probably done to keep the cost down).

Bottom Line: I would have preferred a more academic account, but this book fills in a nice gap between Stauffer's history and more conspiratorial treatments.