Tragedy and Hope is a big, hugely important book, yet most of it is boring. But there are critically important nuggets in it. Yet I have never been able to read more than a page here and a page there—the book is over 1300 pages. It was not supposed to have been published, and after its original 8800 copies, it was suppressed for many years. But you can get a copy now, 60 years after its original publication date.

Author Carroll Quigley was allowed to meet with and study the “Network,” whose singular goal was to control all habitable areas of the world. These were the people who planned wars and had gained control over the foreign policy of nations. I guess they sought a written history of their work, but were shocked that he expected to make his 20 year study public.

Ivor Cummins revealed that there was a free book online, by Joseph Plummer, that effectively summarized Quigley’s work, in only 200 pages. I am finding this book extremely helpful to confirm so much of what I suspected about the world. Here is an excerpt, and Plummer footnotes the pages in Quigley where these ideas are discussed:

… Here are some of the key insights that we will cover in this book:

• Real power is unelected. Politicians change, but the power structure does not. The Network operates behind the scenes, for its own benefit, without ever consulting those who are affected by its decisions.
• The Network is composed of individuals who prefer anonymity. They are “satisfied to possess the reality rather than the appearance of power.” 28 This approach of secretly exercising power is common throughout history because it protects the conspirators from the consequences of their actions.
• A primary tactic for directing public opinion and “government” policy is to place willing servants in leadership positions of trusted institutions (media, universities, government, foundations, etc.). If there is ever a major backlash against a given policy, the servant can be replaced. This leaves both the institution and the individuals who actually direct its power unharmed.
• Historically, those who establish sophisticated systems of domination are not only highly intelligent; they are supremely deceptive and ruthless. They completely ignore the ethical barriers that govern a normal human being’s behavior. They do not believe that the moral and legislative laws, which others are expected to abide by, apply to them. This gives them an enormous advantage over the masses that cannot easily imagine their mind-set.
• Advances in technology have enabled modern rulers to dominate larger and larger areas of the globe. 29 As a result, the substance of national sovereignty has already been destroyed, and whatever remains of its shell is being dismantled as quickly as possible. The new system they’re building (which they themselves refer to as a New World Order), will trade the existing illusion of democratically directed government for their long-sought, “expertdirected,” authoritarian technocracy. 30

Plummer uses a quote from Bertrand Russell (the 3d Earl [of] Russell) to illustrate the ideas of the men of the “Network,” which is as relevant to us today as when Russell published it 95 years ago:

The society of experts will control propaganda and education. It will teach loyalty to the world government, and make nationalism high treason. The government, being an oligarchy, will instill submissiveness into the great bulk of the population…It is possible that it may invent ingenious ways of concealing its own power, leaving the forms of democracy intact, and allowing the plutocrats or politicians to imagine that they are cleverly controlling these forms…whatever the outward forms may be, all real power will come to be concentrated in the hands of those who understand the art of scientific manipulation.

Deception is the foundation of the power of our elites. Coupled with with their lack of a moral or ethical compass. Do read the book!

By chance, just yesterday I listened to a 1990 interview of Norman Dodd by Ed Griffin. Dodd directed an investigation on the role of powerful NGOs for Congress in 1953, which was titled the Reece Commission. His Commission was allowed to look at the minutes of meetings of the Carnegie Corporation going back to its formation in 1908, by officials who had no idea what was in those minutes. His team discovered some amazing things—such as their goal to take over US education and rewrite US history. And how they were able to do it. The Reece Commission is mentioned by Quigley and Plummer. But it never did publish a report.

These coincidences (in this case, learning of the Plummer book and the Dodd interview within 24 hours of each other) and taking the time to listen to Ivor Cumming to learn about Plummer, and listen to the Dodd interview (when I rarely take time to listen to interviews), are what make me believe I get guided to useful information, which it is my job to disseminate.

I think you will find both the book and the interview totally fascinating.