Secret Societies of America's Elite: From the Knights Templar to Skull and Bones [Paperback]

Steven Sora (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 24, 2003

An expose of the dark and critical role secret societies play within the ruling families in America and their influence on American democracy, current events, and world history.

• Reveals the enormous influence secret societies still have on contemporary American life.

• Shows how the secret Masonic cells that smuggled in the democratic ideals inspiring the American Revolution also enabled the future elite of the new society to build huge fortunes.

Elite and secret societies have always been a major force in the history of Western civilization. The alliances formed in secret societies such as the Knights Templar, the Knights of Christ, and the Freemasons transcended patriotism and religious beliefs and had a powerful influence on the establishment of the United States of America. While these secret associations of merchants, smugglers, occultists, gamblers, spies, and slavers succeeded in freeing the United States from foreign domination, the dark side is that the elite used their secret connections to further their own wealth and power. These secret cells did not hesitate to sponsor the assassination of a president and even attempted to break up the union on several occasions when it was deemed expedient.

From the Sons of Liberty and the Essex Junto to the Ku Klux Klan, secret societies have played critical roles in building the fortunes of America's elite. Now Steven Sora reveals in alarming detail how secretive societies continue to wield power even today as organizations such as Yale's Skull & Bones unite America's modern ruling families as strongly as Masonic Lodges once connected the Astors, Livingstons, and Roosevelts. Their immense power and wealth allow this elite to control America to an even greater degree than the Templars once dominated Europe.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Despite the promise of its somewhat lurid title and cover, this odd combination of scholarship and speculation does not really have what it takes to capture the attention of a general reading audience. Its extremely broad theme is that "from the time of the Crusades to modern years, a handful of families have controlled the course of world events and have built their own status and wealth through collective efforts and intermarriage." Sora, who covered much of the same material in his earlier The Lost Treasure of the Knights Templar, connects the leaders of the 14th-century French military group the Knights Templar to 18th-century pirates such as Captain Kidd as well as Revolutionary heroes such as Benjamin Franklin. Sora provides some interesting insights into each subject: the business organization and acumen of the Knights Templar made them, in effect, "the first ever multinational corporation"; William Kidd was a businessman with ties to Scottish Masonic private clubs; and Franklin's efforts to keep the colonials supplied and funded meant that he "operated through Masonic groups in England and France, and his partners in the pro-American war efforts were more often than not hedonists, occultists, Rosicrucians, slave traders and spies." But his general attempt to connect Masonic groups to more current events like the J.F.K. assassination is on far shakier ground, and a final chapter on Yale's legendary Skull and Bones fraternity seems tacked on to book only to allow Sora to argue-but never prove-that "coincidences point to an elite handful of interlocking relationships that have a hold over national affairs."
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

". . . a simply fascinating, authoritative, strongly recommended study of a metaphysical aspect of human history not shown in most textbooks."
(The Midwest Book Review, May 2003 )

"His investigation makes for a ripping yarn that gives a context to modern-day piracy." (
Nexus, September-October 2003, Vol.10 No.5
)

“A provocative book detailing who among our Founding Fathers participated in such clandestine activities as piracy, drug running, smuggling, slave trading, and multinationalism, and those in our nation’s highest office who have also practiced and benefited from these same illegal activities right up to the 21st century. . . . An intriguing view of some of the planet’s puppeteers.”
(Robert R. Hieronimus, Ph.D., author of America?s Secret Destiny )

"Exposes the dark and critical role secret societies play within the ruling families in America." (AZ Net News, Aug/Sept 2004 )

"Steven Sora is an amazing researcher and a thought-provoking writer."
(Michael Peter Langevin, Magical Blend, August 2003 )

" . . . this book deserves a place on the shelves of both new age libraries and collections serious about poliltics and American history." (
The Midwest Book Review, Mar 2008 )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Destiny Books; 1ST edition (February 24, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0892819596
• ISBN-13: 978-0892819591
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #385,706 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

72 of 86 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Full of errors: stay away from this sloppy book !, October 14, 2003

By 

Boileau0663 (Tournai, Belgique) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Secret Societies of America's Elite: From the Knights Templar to Skull and Bones (Paperback)

I started reading this book with great interest but when I was told on page 42 that England was Protestant at the time of Joan of Arc and that Louis XVI was Napoleon's archenemy on page 46, I just put it aside...
Joan of Arc: 1412-1431
Hundred Years War: 1337-1453
Martin Luther: 1483-1546
Henry VIII: 1491-1547

Napoleon's enemy was Louis XVIII and Malta was taken by him in 1798 and not in 1789, as the author claims on page 46. 1789 is the year when the French revolution broke out.

If Mr.Sora can't his facts right on matters everybody knows about how can we trust him when he writes about secret dealings and societies?

One wonders how this book could get the green light.Shameful...

25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars BE CAREFUL OF THIS ONE, August 28, 2004

By 

D. Blankenship (The Ozarks) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Secret Societies of America's Elite: From the Knights Templar to Skull and Bones (Paperback)

I am fearful that the historical accuracy of some of the statements made by this author are in question. I found the work to be rather poorly footnoted and some of the author's conclusions quite questionable. I also found that the work was quite repetative and that much of what the author had to tell us could have been presented in about one fourth of the pages actually used. After reading the book, I certainly would not try passing myself off as an expert on "secret societies" and their impact on our present time. Do some home work on your own before reading this one, and as I said, becareful of this one!

29 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The essential message is the worth the read, March 12, 2004

By 

Paul Fassa (Bloomington, IN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Secret Societies of America's Elite: From the Knights Templar to Skull and Bones (Paperback)

I have seen a variety of negative and positive reviews, and I tend to agree with Jed Schlackman's assessment. But I am giving it a higher rating because of the essential message that I got from reading this book: The elites who built this nation were nothing more than an extension of the ruthless, genocidal, avatars of avarice and greed from early European times to the establishment of the colonies and on through the expansion of the nation state of America.

As colonists, they achieved enormous wealth and power by driving off native Americans through genocidal terrorism and warfare, stealing their land, controlling a large share of the slave trade, dealing drugs internationally (opium), and privateering aka pirating. All of those activities involved extremely low overhead and investment. So the accumulation of vast wealth was rapid. With wealth comes political power. The American "revolution" was incited by and for the elites merely to keep the English Monarchy from getting a piece of the action and giving the noveau riche elites their opportunity to build their own empire. Most of the colonial family names behind the killing, plundering, and illicit, criminal activities for wealth and power are still among the wealthy elite families who have control and power over American policy today. Our accepted historical mythology is bogus.

To paraphrase Rousseau, law and order is the effort of the elites to ensure that others do not take away their wealth by the same means from which it was obtained. So, though not perfect, and not an easy read, anyone who does not have a vested interest in maintaining the lies, propaganda, and factual exclusions of our written history, i.e., a real truth seeker, will benefit from reading this book and keeping it as a reference.