Review by Booklist Review
Because the adolescent years are secretive, this titillating nonfiction offering will appeal to a wide range of teen readers. Using a conversational style, Tibbott introduces 22 secret societies, sects, and cults, and touches upon several other related groups. Arranged alphabetically, they include the more familiar Freemasons and Illuminati to the lesser-known Bilderberg Group (a shadow government that may run the world) and the Magic Castle (a private clubhouse for members of the Academy of Magical Arts and their guests). Each profile highlights the group's history and background, membership requirements, and what it's like to be on the inside. It also provides fun rankings regarding exclusivity, secrecy, threat level, and quirkiness. Extended information, such as previous members of the eighteenth-century Hellfire Club (which was as raucous as it sounds), an interview with a current member of the Lily Dale Assembly (a society for spiritualists or mediums), and clandestine collegiate clubs like Yale's Skull and Bones Society, follows each profile. It's no secret: this title is sure to be popular.--Leeper, Angela Copyright 2015 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
Gr 6 Up-This title takes teens behind the shroud of secrecy that surrounds many exclusive groups. With detailed, engaging text and eye-catching photographs, this book will draw in those interested in little-known facts of the deliberately strange. Her short, almost encyclopedic chapters and dry wit will appeal to struggling readers. Despite the title, there are few pages devoted to cults. Moreover, the brief section on "Killer Cults!" and the discussion of the Peoples Temple (whose members committed mass suicide in 1978), along with the inclusion of the violent, left-wing revolutionary group the Symbionese Liberation Army (known for kidnapping heiress Patty Hearst), seem out of place next to sections on bizarre but ultimately harmless groups, such as the Freemasons and the Knights Templar. While the scope of the information is vast and sharply rendered, the book lacks citations. Given this omission, this offering is suitable only for entertainment, rather than for scholarly work. VERDICT An appealing but nonacademic look into a wide variety of secretive groups.-Erinn Black Salge, Saint Peter's Prep, Jersey City, NJ © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 6 Up-This title takes teens behind the shroud of secrecy that surrounds many exclusive groups. With detailed, engaging text and eye-catching photographs, this book will draw in those interested in little-known facts of the deliberately strange. Her short, almost encyclopedic chapters and dry wit will appeal to struggling readers. Despite the title, there are few pages devoted to cults. Moreover, the brief section on "Killer Cults!" and the discussion of the Peoples Temple (whose members committed mass suicide in 1978), along with the inclusion of the violent, left-wing revolutionary group the Symbionese Liberation Army (known for kidnapping heiress Patty Hearst), seem out of place next to sections on bizarre but ultimately harmless groups, such as the Freemasons and the Knights Templar. While the scope of the information is vast and sharply rendered, the book lacks citations. Given this omission, this offering is suitable only for entertainment, rather than for scholarly work. VERDICT An appealing but nonacademic look into a wide variety of secretive groups.-Erinn Black Salge, Saint Peter's Prep, Jersey City, NJ (c) Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
