Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3230 in Books
• Published on: 2008-06-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 496 pages

Soul and Spirit Magazine
...A wonderfully controversial read, which challenges the accepted view and spiritual history of human society

Synopsis
Here for the first time is a complete history of the world, from the beginning of time to the present day, based on the beliefs and writings of the secret societies. From the esoteric account of the evolution of the species to the occult roots of science, from the secrets of the Flood to the esoteric motives behind American foreign policy, here is a narrative history that shows the basic facts of human existence on this planet can be viewed from a very different angle. Everything in this history is upside down, inside out and the other way around.At the heart of "The Secret History of the World" is the belief that we can reach an altered state of consciousness in which we can see things about the way the world works that are hidden from us in our everyday, commonsensical consciousness. This history shows that by using secret techniques, people such as Leonardo da Vinci, Isaac Newton and George Washington have worked themselves into this altered state - and been able to access supernatural levels of intelligence. There have been many books on the subject, but, extraordinarily, no-one has really listened to what the secret societies themselves say.

The author has been helped in his researches by his friendship with a man who is an initiate of more than one secret society, and in one case an initiate of the highest level.

From the Publisher
Review for Secret History of the World:
The powerful narrative drive and cornucopia of startling revelations that form the core of Jonathan Black's new book show us the world not as we have been taught to see it but as it really is - deeply strange and mysterious, filled with secrets and codes, with humanity rightly placed at the heart of a grand cosmic riddle. Nothing of this scale and ambition has been attempted since Blavatsky's The Secret Doctrine, and Black rises to the challenge with style, originality and aplomb - Graham Hancock, author Fingerprints of the Gods

Customer Reviews

The International Beguiler
I would never usually write a review, especially a negative one. But I cannot bare to see this books praise outweigh its put downs. It is so poorly written and structured and full of so many untruths and nonsensical, illogical descriptions that any of the more intriguing and interesting sections of the book will be doubted. I have acquired nothing more from this book than an awareness of how easily lead I am into buying something with the word "secret" in the title and a review from Graham Hancock on the back.

I gave the full two stars because I have cut out the illustrations and they will probably be useful someday. The remaining pages I shall burn and dance around.

A remarkable and comprehensive tour de force of the arcane
The result of nearly twenty years' research, this book is a remarkable, comprehensive tour de force of the arcane, superbly illustrated with colour and black-and-white plates, some of which have not been seen outside secret societies.
As Jonathan Black points out in his introduction, while modern pundits tend to discredit the Mystery schools, "this book will show that throughout history an astonishing number of famous people have secretly cultivated the esoteric philosophy and mystical states taught in the secret societies". He cites, for example, Bach, Beethoven, Cervantes, Charlemagne, Dante, Goethe, Joan of Arc, Kepler, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Milton, Mozart, Napoleon, Newton, Shakespeare, Voltaire, and George Washington, all of whom held beliefs and who adopted practices that are discredited today.
I have always been fascinated by the Comte de St. Germain. Described by Voltaire as "a man who knows everything and who never dies", he was capable of phenomenal feats, such as the dramatic demonstration witnessed by Cagliostro, mentioned by Black, and who seems to have lived for an indeterminate period. Held by some to be a charlatan, he nonetheless liaised with, and was respected by, many government ministers and royal families in Europe. Monarchs, including Louis XV, entrusted him with secret diplomatic missions.
"The remains of an ancient wisdom lie all around us," concludes Black, "in the names of the days of the week and the months of the year, in the arrangements of the pips in an apple and in the strangeness of mistletoe, in music [and] in the design of many public buildings and statues and in our greatest art and literature . . .
"Science sees idealism as having dominated history up until the seventeenth century when the process of discrediting it began. Science assumes materialism will remain the dominant philosophy until the end of time. In the view of the secret societies, materialism will come to be seen as a mere blip . . ."

Advanced,, forthright, significant.
A wonderfully wide-ranging and erudite tome; evidently a labour of love as well as scholarship. And much more playful than many reviewers have noticed. When is the tie-in CD of Illuminated Music going to be released?