This is a book that I would have liked to read 30 years ago, but unfortunately there was no willingness on the part of dissident scientists and Nobel laureates to publish this data, which was kept in a very small academic and governmental circle. The biggest scam in history investigates the germ theory and whether it holds up to scientific and empirical scrutiny. The evolutive origin of viruses is a little enigma for the official science and they do not even agree on whether these biological entitis are living beings or not. Some of these mysterious microscopic beings have apparently been in contact with humans only for the past 50 years. We have tried to refute the germ theory in this book with full success.
It's an irresistible combination: Brad Meltzer, a born storyteller, counting down the world's most intriguing unsolved mysteries. And to make this richly illustrated book even richer, each chapter invites the reader along for an interactive experience through the addition of facsimile documents—the evidence! It's a treasure trove for conspiracy buffs, a Griffin and Sabine for history lovers. Adapted from Decoded, Meltzer’s hit show on the HISTORY network, History Decoded explores fascinating, unexplained questions. Is Fort Knox empty? Why was Hitler so intent on capturing the Roman “Spear of Destiny”? What’s the government hiding in Area 51? Where did the Confederacy’s $19 million in gold and silver go at the end of the Civil War? And did Lee Harvey Oswald really act alone? Meltzer sifts through the evidence; weighs competing theories; separates what we know to be true with what’s still—and perhaps forever—unproved or unprovable; and in the end, decodes the mystery, arriving at the most likely solution. Along the way we meet Freemasons, Rosicrucians, Nazi propagandists, and the real DB Cooper. A riveting adventure through the compelling world of mysteries and conspiracies.
A masterful blend of Christian scholarship and thrilling adventure, The Last Cato is a novel about the race to find the secret location of the Vera Cruz, the True Cross on which Christ was crucified, and the ancient brotherhood sworn to protect it. Holy relics are disappearing from sacred spots around the world—and the Vatican will do whatever it takes to stop the thieves from stealing what is left of the scattered splinters of the True Cross. Brilliant paleographer Dr. Ottavia Salina is called upon by the highest levels of the Roman Catholic Church to decipher the scars found on an Ethiopian man's corpse: seven crosses and seven Greek letters. The markings, symbolizing the Seven Deadly Sins, are part of an elaborate initiation ritual for the Staurofilakes, the clandestine brotherhood hiding the True Cross for centuries, headed by a secretive figure called Cato. With the help of a member of the Swiss Guard and a renowned archaeologist, Dr. Salina uncovers the connection between the brotherhood and Dante's Divine Comedy, and races across the globe to Christianity's ancient capitals. Together, they will face challenges that will put their faith—and their very lives—to the ultimate test.
This is a study of one of the leading politicians of Independent Mexico, Jose Maria Tornel y Mendivil, whose loyalty to Santa Anna and whose skills as a writer led him to play a crucial role in enabling the caudillo's repeated rise to power during this period. This first biography of Tornel in English provides a new insight into the political thought of the santanistas and the ways in which Santa Anna was able to return to power time and again in spite of the fact that he was deemed responsible for such major national disasters as the Texas campaign of 1836 and the 1847 defeat against the United States. A close analysis of Tornel's own political evolution, from advocating a radical federalist agenda in the 1820s to defending reactionary dictatorship in the 1850s, illustrates the extent to which the santanistas' policies changed as the hopeful, early 1820s degenerated into the despair of the late 1840s. As the leading ideologue of the santanistas, a study of his politics, paying close attention to the way they evolved in response to the different crises Mexico underwent, highlights, for the first time, the extent to which Santa Anna and his followers upheld a particular political agenda which was essentially populist, militaristic, antipolitics, and nationalistic, and varied depending on the prevailing circumstances and the different historical contexts in which it surfaced. A study of Tornel's activities as Santa Anna's main informer in the capital, his leading propagandist, and as a key player in the orchestration of revolts such as the 1834 Plan of Cuernavaca, serves to show the extent to which Santa Anna's success relied on Tornel's services. Coincidentally or not, without Tornel, Santa Anna was not able to return to power after his fall in 1855.
Dr. Albert G. Mackey, also the author of The Lexicon of Freemasonry appears as author of this " Encyclopedia of Freemasonry and its Kindred Sciences," which, being a library in inself, superseded most of the Masonic works which have been tolerated by the craft—chiefly because none better could be obtained. Here, in one giant volume is a work which fulfils the hope which sustained the author through ten years' literary labor, that, under one cover he "would furnish every Mason who might consult its pages the means of acquiring a knowledge of all matters connected with the science, the philosophy, and the history of his order." For more than thirty years Dr. Mackey has devoted earnest and constant study and research to the history, the objects, and the condition of Masonry. In the present work, the crowning and successful result of a life's labors, he has received no assistance from any one. He says, " Every article was written by myself," and he adds, which would extenuate errors, had he fallen into any, "For twelve months, too, of the time occupied upon this work, I suffered from an affection of the sight, which forbade all use of the eyes for purposes of study. During that time, now happily passed, all authorities were consulted by the willing eyes of my daughters—all writing was done by their hands. I realized for a time the picture so often painted of the blind bard dictating his sublime verses to his daughters," and his preface closes with the words, "Were I to dedicate this work at all, my dedication should be—To Filial Affection." Up to the present time the modern literature of Freemasonry has been diffuse, lumbering, unreliable, and, out of all reasonable proportions.
Containing Monitorial Instructions in the degrees of Entered Apprentice, Fellow-Craft, and Master Masons, with Explanatory Notes, Emendations, and Lectures; together with the Ceremonies of Consecration and Dedication of New Lodges, Installation of Grand and Suborninate Officers, Laying of Foundation Stones, Dedication of Masonic Halls, etc.
