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Music Books > Gary Allan > Item 3
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The Unseen Hand
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by A. Ralph Epperson
Sales Rank: 62944
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List Price: $15.95
$10.85
At Amazon
on 12-29-2007.
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Features
Paperback: 488 pages
Publisher: Publius Press January 1985
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0961413506
ISBN-13: 978-0961413507
Product Dimensions:
8 x 5.2 x 1.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
Book Description
It is the contention of the author that the major events of the past, the wars, the depressions and the revolutions, have been planned years in advance by an international conspiracy. This view is called the Conspiratorial View of History, and is definitely not the view held by the majority of historians today. The more traditonal view is called The Accidental View of History, and it holds that no one really knows why events happen--they just do.
Owner Reviews, Ratings, Comments and Criticism
The author of this book, Ralph Epperson, promises to introduce the reader to the fundamentals of the conspiratorial view of history. This view of history is in direct contradiction to the accidental view of history, or the theory of history accepted by most historians today. The conspiratorial view of history posits that all historical events are either controlled or directed by individuals or small groups of powerful people. Accidental history has no controls; events happen because they do, and no amount of effort may successfully direct events. Epperson supports the conspiratorial view of history, and he tries to prove this theory in "The Unseen Hand," a 488 page collection of secret societies, economic totalitarianism, and communist plots. According to Epperson, the overarching theme of conspiratorial history is that of power. When the rich amass enough money, they begin to thirst for power over their fellow human beings. Since most people want to have a say in the way their lives are run, these power hungry individuals must try to enact their plans in secret by using their influence and wealth to effect change that favors the interests of the rich and powerful. The book is roughly chronological. It starts with early events in history and slowly marches through time until it reaches the 1980's. According to Epperson, the conspiracy began with the formation of the Illuminati on May 1, 1776. The Illuminati, founded by a Bavarian professor named Adam Weishaupt, dedicated itself to overthrowing the old world order of monarchy by adopting ideals of reason. Mankind, through reason, would come to reject religion and nationalism and found a collectivistic society. Epperson quickly draws links between the Illuminati and later movements such as Marxism and the socialist Fabians. Another aspect of this conspiracy, in close collaboration with the Illuminati and its later incarnations, is that of international banking. The bankers quickly moved to institute central banks in Europe in order to control the population through the manufacture of fiat money (money backed by debt, not gold or silver) and the creation of inflation. The American revolutionary war and the American civil war were attempts by the bankers to weaken the country and institute a central banking system, a goal finally achieved at Jekyll Island in 1913. No conspiracy book would be complete without a discussion of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission, the Freemasons, and the Bilderberg group. All four groups are discussed in some depth here. Epperson takes great pains to point out that most of the upper hierarchy in American government are members of these four groups. The goal of these groups, which are funded by foundations set up by banking and oil interests, is to create a "new world order," or a global socialist/communist government ruled by a small oligarchy of wealthy individuals. This book works best when discussing the creation and role of government in a society, as well as the role of central banks and the control of the money interests. Epperson gives succinct explanations of how government and banking work, and how both can cause serious trouble if not properly regulated. It is ridiculous to believe that people in charge of so much money don't know the causes of inflation, or why prices of oil fluctuate as much as they do. Yet on any given day we are constantly informed by policy makers and other elites that they are as confused about why things happen as we are. What doesn't work as well is some of the weird claims that pop up throughout the book. A claim that Karl Marx was a Satanist certainly raised my eyebrows, as did the claim that Jesse James lived to be 107 years old and was a 33rd degree freemason. Where did that come from? We know that DNA tests performed on Jesse's remains leave little doubt that he was killed just as the history books describe. Of course, a conspiracy theorist would claim that the results were doctored or are fabrications. And that is the problem with conspiracy theories: every counterclaim to the conspiracy theory is a lie or a half-truth, which further bolsters the conspiracy. The source material for this book rests heavily on other conspiracy volumes, and most of the material for this book seems to be drawn from books and pamphlets from the John Birch Society. The Birchers built their entire organization around the ideas of a communist conspiracy and the creation of a global new world order. The last chapter of the book devotes a large amount of space in praise to the JBS, so an objective account of conspiratorial history won't be found in this book. Epperson also made the mistake of not going directly to source material for his information. Instead, he relied on the interpretations of others, and some of these people are wackos. This is still an entertaining read for those who want to learn about alternate history or the paranoia of those who believe in such theories. There is good information in this book, but care needs to be taken when looking at the volume as a whole.
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The Unseen Hand
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