In illuminating detail, the editors of "Time" illustrate the history and background of the most secretive and obscure organizations - cultural, political, occult, criminal, and social - ranging from the Sons of Liberty in the American colonies to the Bolshevik cells of czarist Russia and such otherworldly cults as Heaven's Gate. The book will help simplify the vague and obscure details in a new way through images, artefacts, and illustrations. Readers who enjoyed "The Da Vinci Code" and "The Lost Symbol" want to know, are Dan Brown's novels rooted in reality or are they primarily fiction? Books on this subject have been flying off the shelves to help readers demystify the secrets and legends of these organizations. In "Time's" book "Secret Societies", the editors will train a spotlight on the underground groups of Brown's novels and many more, separating fact from fiction and rumour from reality, revealing the most fascinating and influential secret organizations in history.

Author Biography

Kelly Knauer is a writer and editor for TIME Books in New York City, the book-publishing division of TIME Magazine. He has written and edited more than 30 TIME books on such subjects as Hurricane Katrina, the Middle East, great photojournalism, natural history, global warming, architecture, American history, and the life of Abraham Lincoln. He worked with TIME's longtime White House Correspondent, Hugh Sidey, on the book Hugh Sidey's Portraits of the Presidents.