The Occult Conspiracy
Secret Societies: Their Influence and Power in World History

by Michael Howard

Freemasonry is one of the 'bad guys' yet again in this exhaustive listing of the many, many conspiracies that no one seems to have fully found - except, of course, this author whose credentials (educational or scientific) are not mentioned anywhere. He is, we can only assume, highly qualified to pass judgment and provide information on this topic. Uh-huh....

Sources? Of course they're provided. For Freemasonry, he's used a grand total of five! Manley Hall's 'Freemasonry of the Ancient Egyptians', Charles Heckleton's 1897 speculative work 'The Secret Societies of all Ages & Countries', Stephen Knight's anti-Masonic diatribe 'The Brotherhood', and two wildly imaginative books from J.S.M.Ward 'Freemasonry and the Ancient Gods' (circa 1926) and 'Who Was Hiram Abiff?' (circa 1925). We tried to think of a good comparison for creating something using books like this. The only one that came to mind was the creation of a car repair manual using books like David Noble's 'The Religion of Technology' and a biography of Henry Ford. 

Of course, Mr. Howard has already anticipated our objections. The very first sentence of his Preface reads "It is the generally accepted view among those who have very little knowledge of the matters discussed in this book that occultism is the province of a minority of deluded individuals." That, Mr. Howard, pretty well sums up our feelings indeed despite your best efforts to prove anything to the contrary - and to link Freemasonry with some type of ancient, occult conspiracy using the work of Stephen Knight!

In his chronology of world events from 40,000 BCE to 1987, Mr. Howard indicates that during his lifetime, "Jesus possibly travels to India, Tibet and Britain to be initiated into the esoteric traditions of East and West." Need we say more?

Another 'don't waste your money' book