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Nick Harding

Secret Societies Hardcover – July 30, 2006

by Nick Harding (Author)

9 ratings

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an interesting look at secret societies

Print length

160 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Chartwell Books
Publication date

July 30, 2006
Dimensions

5 x 0.75 x 7.5 inches
ISBN-10

0785821708
ISBN-13

978-0785821700
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Chartwell Books; 0 edition (July 30, 2006)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 160 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0785821708
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0785821700
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5 x 0.75 x 7.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #8,122,521 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #7,494 in Historical Study Reference (Books)
- #9,964 in History Encyclopedias
- #28,315 in Popular Culture in Social Sciences

Customer Reviews:
9 ratings

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5 star		27%
4 star		30%
3 star		6%
2 star		19%
1 star		18%

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James

Shallow, Heavily Biased, and overly predictable.

Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2022

Mr. Harding seemingly bit off more than he could chew with this work. He gives a brief...extremely brief..brief to the point of being near useless overview of many secret societies, a few key figures, a supposed date or two, with very little context and extremely few sources, and then proceeds to tell you that either 1. they don't actually exist, society (most often religious folk within society) just made them up, or 2. they're not what you think they are, they're just a bunch of guys getting together to have tea. These two opinions are generally followed by an attack on religion, most often Catholicism, in which Mr. Harding paints those who hold religious beliefs or worries about the motives behind the activities of these groups as nothing more than superstitious, backward dolts. He constantly discredits other authors and researchers (most of whose works contain much more documented research than Mr. Harding was able to show) who don't agree with him and jump on with whichever one of the 2 options he selected above. The few organizations that he doesn't completely write off as a hoax, he is quick to brand as "right wing," making sure to leave no doubt for the reader that left-leaning individuals never act in such a manner. I give this book two stars only because it does provide a list of societies and organizations that a serious student might want to pursue further, more scholarly, information on, but as far as the content of this book, it seems that this was written to be a good bathroom read for the liberal Aethist who wants to delve into a little bit of conspiracy theory fiction gaining validation and getting a good laugh at those "ignorant" (a term Mr. Harding uses quite often) Christians all along the way. If you want a serious study, look elsewhere.

Helpful

Marvin D. Pipher

The essence of these societies remains a secret

Reviewed in the United States on July 1, 2012

This book wasn't quite what I had expected and it was a great disappointment. I had hoped it would explore the important "Secret Societies" affecting today's world and yield some insight as to their motives and activities, how they relate to one another to achieve their ends, and how their activities have and are impacting the world at large and the United States in particular. The book did none of that. Rather, it simply presented a cursory overview of thirty-nine of the so-called secret societies which supposedly have existed down through the ages, many of which are defunct and most of which are inconsequential as far as today's world is concerned.

It's difficult to imagine who the book's intended audience might be. Surely it isn't aimed at knowledgeable students of secret societies, if any, because they certainly would know much more about these groups than they would be able to glean from this scant overview. And, it's hard to believe that casual readers with no great knowledge-of or interest in secret societies would be interested in these mostly obscure, irrelevant, and long-defunct societies.

In defense of the author: I suspect the real problem he faced was that "Secret Societies" by their very nature are --- you guessed it --- secret, making it extremely difficult to compile a meaningful book such as this. But that doesn't fully excuse the result: As far as this book is concerned, the essence of these secret societies has remained a secret.

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

X-Wonderbug

Superficial Treatment

Reviewed in the United States on August 9, 2006

Mr. Harding is a British, rather than an American author, and thus has a British, rather than an American perspective. He lists 39 secret societies, but lists only 27 references, and omits many important ones.

I can't say this is a very important book on the subject. His treatment of the current day secret organizations is simplistic and superficial, as tho his primary research source was the encyclopedia.

More importantly, his descriptions seem to gloss over some very important questions that many American authors raise as of vital concern, such as, why are they secret? Why is their membership secret? What to they do in secrecy? Since secrecy is so important, why do they hide their activities? The obvious conclusion, that secret societies must have something to hide, is avoided.

The Freemasons threaten death and dismemberment to those who reveal its secrets. What is so important that such a threat is made? Higher level freemasons also take an oath to help other Freemasons out of tight spots over any other consideration, including, it is asserted,lying under oath.

Mr. Harding's conclusions are also superficial and simplistic. and dismiss the deep concerns that many have over the subject of secret societies and evil conspiracies, as simple paranoia. But it's hard to say what his real theme is, as his comments go in many different directions, and are ambivalent at best. One could get the impression that he is an agent of one or more secret organizations, putting a good face on them. Perhaps he hasn't really thought out what he wants to say. I am giving this book a rating of "3" rather than "2" as one or two of his observations do have some merit. However, I would borrow this book rather than buy it.

In Christian circles, we are taught that one of Satan's primary goals is to convice humankind that he doesn't exist. Satan's primary goal is to offend God by corrupting humankind and leading them away from God. The secret, unaccountable activities of secret societies seem to be an excellent way to do this by promoting a secret political, religious, social, or economic agenda. Undoubtedly, many secular humanists will be "offended" by this. All I have to say is, "tough, wake up."

4 people found this helpful

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