Just last night I finished the 800 page Illuminatus! Trilogy, and wow, what a ride. Imagine what Atlas Shrugged would have read like if Hunter S. Thompson had written it, and you have a pretty good idea of how this book is. I can't even get into what it's about - not because it's taboo, but because the book is purposefully schizophrenic and difficult to follow.
Imagine a book where the narrators jump around with no warning whatsoever to the reader - you simply "figure it out" as you go along. Plot lines are built up out of sequence around clues that are constantly discovered, assembled into conspiracies, and then thrown out. Self-depreciating humor is interspersed throughout the tome challenging the idea that the book is even worthwhile. It's like Bertold Brecht telling a Tom Clancy storyline, but with porn and drugs thrown in.
Reading the book confirmed my long move out of minarchist territory and into the abyss of anarchism. To get an idea of the concepts that clinched it for me, check out this page (Hagbard Celine is the chief protagonist, a libertine John Galt if you will). It also contains an extremely interesting graph:
...According to one of my tables of data, there isn't a single theory held by professional conspiracy buffs which isn't also believed by many members of our various secret-police agencies. In fact, the exact percentages of believes in these extravagant scenarios are quite similar among a group of 1,000 CIA agents and a control group of 1,000 readers of the underground press, as shown in table 1.Table 1. True Believers in Various Conspiracy Theories Among CIA Agents and Underground-Press Readers.
CONSPIRACY THEORY CIA UNDERGROUND PRESS READERS The Yankees (Eastern millionaires) run everything 25% 30% The Cowboys (Western millionaires) run everything 25% 15% It's the result of civil war between Yankees and Cowboys 23% 17% It's the 33 degree Masons 5% 5% It's the Jesuits 5% 5% It's the Elders of Zion 2% 2% It's the Military Industrial Complex 1% 2% It's the Bilderbergers 1% 2% It's the Gnomes of Zurich 1% 2% It's the Lesbian Vegetarians 10% 28% It's the Rock n Roll Empire 2% 2%
Note: Anarchism is described in the Trilogy as: "That organization of society in which the Free Market operates freely, without taxes, usury, landlordism, tariffs, or other forms of coercion or privilege. RIGHT ANARCHISTS predict that in the Free Market people would voluntarily choose to compete more often than to cooperate. LEFT ANARCHISTS predict that in the Free Market people would voluntarily choose to cooperate more often than to compete. "
P.S. Thanks to Brad and Kevin for the recommendations.
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