Christopher Hodapp is also the author of The Templar Code For Dummies and a Freemason who has traveled extensively reporting on global Masonic practices. Alice Von Kannon is an author and historian.

Introduction 1

Part I: Conspiracy Theories and Secret Societies: The Improbable Wedded to the Inscrutable 7

Chapter 1: Everything You Know Is Wrong 9

Chapter 2: Conspiracism and the Origin of Modern Conspiracy Theories 19

Chapter 3: Building the Perfect Beast: Secret Societies through the Ages 33

Part II: A Colossal Compilation of Conspiracy Theories 45

Chapter 4: Everybody Knows About It: The World's Most Common Conspiracy Theories 47

Chapter 5: JFK and Other Presidents: The Conspiracies Behind the Guns 67

Chapter 6: The World Ends Monday - Racial, Religious, and Apocalyptic Conspiracies 95

Chapter 7: Not of This Earth: Innocent Pawns in an Intergalactic Imbroglio 117

Chapter 8: Tracking the Evolution of the 9/11 Conspiracy Theories 137

Part III: Secret Societies and Societies with Secrets 157

Chapter 9: The Freemasons: The World's Longest-Running Secret Society 159

Chapter 10: Rosicrucians and the Evolution of Occult Secret Societies 183

Chapter 11: The Illuminati: The Bavarian Boogeymen 207

Chapter 12: Secret Societies of Terror and Death 219

Chapter 13: Frolicsome Fraternalism and Nefarious Foes of Freedom 249

Chapter 14: Thugs, Mugs, and Lugs: The Mafia and Other Underworld Societies 267

Chapter 15: Banks and Super Committees: Knowing All, Owning All, Controlling All 297

Part IV: The Part of Tens 315

Chapter 16: Ten Conspiracy Theories That Skirt the Edge of Madness 317

Chapter 17: Ten Conspiracies That Were Absolutely True 329

Chapter 18: Ten Weirdest Secret Societies of All Time 343

Index 351