Secrets of the Tomb: Skull and Bones, the Ivy League, and the Hidden Paths of Power (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "Sometime in the early 1830s, a Yale student named William H. Russell-the future valedictorian of the class of 1833-traveled to Germany to study for a..." (more)
Key Phrases: freshman societies, sophomore societies, senior societies, New Haven, Uncle Toby, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Robbins (Quarterlife Crisis) begins by setting readers up with the ridiculous myth of Yale's Skull and Bones, an exclusive society whose powerful members including both presidents Bush are sworn to secrecy for life about the club's activities: the myth says that the society's members form a clique that rules the world. Robbins then proposes demystifying the group. On the one hand, she propagates the myth, spelling out how Bonesmen have promoted one another in enormously successful political and business careers; they presided over the creation of the atomic bomb as well as the CIA, she says. On the other hand, Robbins turns up much that is prosaic, as she traces the society's origins back to 1832, when William Russell founded it as retribution for a classmate's having been passed over by Phi Beta Kappa; she discovers that the club's cryptic iconography is derived from German university societies. She reveals the inventory of the Tomb (an evocative name for what is essentially a frat house) and details about the group's oddly juvenile fraternal ritual. The narrative never gets more dramatic than Robbins staking out the Tomb for President George W. Bush during Yale's tercentennial celebrations in 2002, and while she relies heavily on the testimony of many Bonesmen, she never names names. While the book may demystify Skull and Bones, it also imparts the sense that Robbins, herself a Yale graduate and member of a rival society, believes in Yalies' elitist entitlement to power and prestige.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Robbins, herself a Yale graduate and secret society member, aims to debunk the myth of one of the oldest secret societies, Skull and Bones. She begins with a superstitious, melodramatic account that suggests the society is both immensely rich and so powerful that it influenced politics. What follows is an extremely detailed account that traces the history of Yale and that of secret societies in general and that of Bones in particular, founded in 1832. Fifteen initiates, who are often among the smartest and most talented in their class, are tapped their junior year. They are initiated in the tomb (the Bones headquarters) and taken on a retreat to Bones-owned Deer Island, off the coast of New York. Much like a fraternity, Bones has many secret rituals and traditions. Robbins reveals some of these--special "Bones" names, the Bonesmen's theft of the bones of Geronimo. She also names some of the members, including both George Bush and George W. Bush. An interesting study, though the casual reader might find it too detailed. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; 1 edition (September 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316720917
• ISBN-13: 978-0316720915
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (81 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #674,793 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Mostly filler, with little interesting content, November 28, 2005

By	Michael Moore "The People's Voice" (Chicago) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Secrets of the Tomb: Skull and Bones, the Ivy League, and the Hidden Paths of Power (Paperback)

Let me make this clear, I bought this book not to read more conspiracy theory nonsense, but rather to 1) hear about the rational explanations of the popular conspiracy theories, why they are perhaps wrong, what their basis in truth might be, as well as 2) to hear interesting stories about the lengths to which Skull and Bones members protect their secrets and serve the purposes of its members. I went to her website and read the book's excerpt, which was a copy of the first chapter in which she starts off doing exactly what I was looking for.

Unfortunatly after buying the book, I was dissapointed to discover that the interesting topics which she uses to seduce the reader into a purchase are discussed no further. The reader must first painstakingly work through a miserable history of Yale's traditions, societies, etc. for the first 77 pages of the book--not only boring, but not what I paid for. When she finally does decide to discuss the actual topic of her book, it is dissapointing, to be nice. In a decently thourough manner, she describes the choosing of and ritualistic initiation of new members. She then goes on to describe the rise of power of some of the more powerful Skull and Bones run organizations and families. Um...great (sarcastically).

To be clear, the info she provides on the Skull and Bones society is mildly interesting, seems somewhat objective (with one major exception noted below), is refreshingly realistic given most of the pure conspiracy weirdos tackling S&B, and would have its valid place in a more thourough book on the subject. However, what she provides can by no means be an adequate basis for an entire novel. Or, rather, I should say, a good novel. It seemed as though she was trying to fit 10 good pages of interesting info into a 200 page novel. She doesn't unmask the skull and bones conspiracy theories, but rather poo-poo's them in single sentences or oft ignores them completely. Is it common in the world of investigatory journalism to mention a Neo-Nazi agenda conspiracy theory and a "bones whore" in the introduction chapter without ever even broaching the subject again? I want to read more about these sensationalistic theories, whether they be supported or thrashed as nonsense! Sadly, she does neither. Unfortunately this is the norm for the author instead of the exception. Quite unprofessional. I honestly feel cheated by this book.


One interesting observation is that as she continually downplays the importance and mystique of the Skull and Bones club, she also seems to ellevate the importance and ethical purposes of the other secret societies at Yale, in particular the Scroll and Key Society. (Wonder which society she was involved with?) Her inferiority complex is tangible. It becomes a reacurring theme in her book to point out the ways in which Scroll and Key is either as good or better than Skull and Bones as well as how Yale is so incredibly unique and different (read: better) than Harvard. This desperate need to legitimize her own affiliations underscores any unbiased front she pretends to have as a "journalist." She comes across as more of a scorned sorrority girl, than she does a professional journalist.

Very frustratng read!

42 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars disinfo at its finest, December 31, 2003

By	Ataraxia Legend Report (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Secrets of the Tomb: Skull and Bones, the Ivy League, and the Hidden Paths of Power (Paperback)

Disinformation at its finest. Skull & Bones realized the media dam was breaking and that they could no longer keep the existance of their influential little Satanic private club hidden from the greater public, and so lo and behold! - a naive young writer - herself a member of a Yale secret society - is asked to write a book for a mainstream publisher in hopes to "soften the blow" to Joe Schmoe. There is enough valid information in here so as to not insult the reader's intelligence, but it never really cuts to the heart of the matter, preferring to linger on irrelevant details and on the experiences of inactive members of the group who never really got to know what it was all about in the first place (and who, for all the author knows, might've been feeding *her* disinformation). The idea is that anyone who has enough interest in Skull & Bones to read a book about them, will pick this up at their local bookstore, will have their curiousity assuaged, and, being satisfied that Skull & Bones isn't as lurid as some have made it out to be, will investigate the matter no more. Simply put, this book was released as a form of damage control. Anyone seriously researching Skull & Bones should pick up a copy of Antony Sutton's book, "America's Secret Establishment", in addition to this one, and if you're only planning to read one book on the subject, I recommend Sutton's book over this one (FYI, Sutton was the first researcher to really blow the lid off Skull & Bones, back in the 1980's, when few people had ever even heard of it).

52 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Secret societies are [the] arched eyebrow personified.", August 29, 2002

By	Mary Whipple (New England) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

Describing Yale as "an institution that presents itself far less as an academic school than as a social game," author Robbins delves into the history of the university itself in an effort to explain the evolution of its secret societies--Skull and Bones, in particular--and to rationalize their continuing existence. Quoting documents from the archives, she cites religious zealotry, student rankings by social status and family background, a veneration of tradition, and the promotion of ultra-conservative values at Yale in the 19th century as factors in the development of these societies during that time. Literary, debating, and drama societies, open to all students, evolved and disbanded during these years, but the secret societies survived, providing in the absence of a residential college system, a bonding experience which fulfilled unmet social needs.

Skull and Bones is highly selective, tapping only fifteen seniors each year, but the networks members forge among themselves, with faculty who were members, and with powerful alumni endure for a lifetime. Bushes, Buckleys, Bundys, Rockefellers, Tafts, and others have formed and exploited their secret society networks in government and foreign policy, the CIA, finance, and business. Robbins firmly debunks, however, the rumors of an "international mafia," a real estate cabal, neo-Nazi philosophy, and the notion that this is the "most powerful secret society the world has ever known."

Herself a member of a "kindred Yale secret society," Robbins can hardly be expected to represent the point of view of the 90% of the campus which is not tapped for secret societies, which, now admitting women and minorities, seem to be trying to represent the college's demographics more fairly. She never really deals with the inherent elitism (or tokenism) which the selection process represents, however, and I disagree with her contention that secret societies are necessary in our lives: "The secret society--like the power of the elitist, old-school colleges...--survives because people like to believe that seemingly random events are orchestrated by someone or something in control...they need causality in much the same way as they need a God. People's need for the Skull and Bones conspiracies to elucidate an underlying order is similar to the need for religion to explain death and purpose." As long as people believe this, secret societies will endure. Mary Whipple