The group grew to that size by becoming a sort of sleeper cell within other groups - Illuminati members joined Freemason lodges to recruit members for their own competing secret society. And even at its largest, it only consisted of somewhere between 650 and 2,500 members.

In its early days, the group was just a handful of people. The Illuminati's goals - and reputation - often exceeded their means, Hodapp notes. 'It was pretty ambitious for six or nine guys, but they really wanted to take over the world,' says Chris Hodapp, the co-author of Conspiracy Theories and Secret Societies for Dummies with Alice VonKannon. Weishaupt wanted to educate Illuminati members in reason, philanthropy, and other secular values so that they could influence political decisions when they came to power. This organization was founded by Adam Weishaupt, a German law professor who believed strongly in Enlightenment ideals, and his lluminatenorden sought to promote those ideals among elites. In a historical sense, the term 'Illuminati' refers to the Bavarian Illuminati, a secret society that operated for only a decade, from 1776 to 1785. 1) What is the Illuminati? A drawing depicting the initiation of an Illuminati member. And even though it doesn't exist anymore, the fact that many people still have paranoid beliefs about it reveals a lot about power, our culture - and, of course, what we think about Jay Z. The Illuminati wasn't always just some crazy chimera - it used to be a very real group with ambitious goals. They tackle all the cover-ups of our time - from who really shot the Kennedys to why there's a pyramid on a one-dollar bill - and suggest a mind-blowing truth.': 5.5 x 8 in.: 805 pages.Lizard people: the greatest political conspiracy ever created Filled with sex and violence - in and out of time and space - the three books of The Illuminatus! Trilogy are only partly works of the imagination. Saul Goodman knows he's stumbled onto something big - but even he can't guess how far into the pinnacles of power this conspiracy of evil has penetrated. Now his offices have been bombed, he's missing, and the case has landed in the lap of a tough, cynical, streetwise New York detective. Joseph Malik, editor of a radical magazine, had snooped into rumors about an ancient secret society that was still alive and kicking. KB#018019: Covers and pages are clean, unmarked, brightly colored, tightly bound and sharp cornered (except for light creasing of lower front cover corner).

Illuminatus the golden apple