Interesting at times, but fanciful!
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Contrary to what another reviewer has stated, I should make it clear that nowhere in this book is there any mention whatsoever of the infamous work of fiction, "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion". This other reviewer clearly has not read "Talisman", and it would appear that they gained their erroneous opinion from a misunderstanding of another previous review. The authors of this book do mention at one point that certain Islamic extremists believe, for some reason, that the Freemasons are helping the Zionist (i.e., pro-Israel) cause in the Middle Eastern region. Other than this largely irrelevant point, there is nothing even remotely connected with the Protocols in this work.
As for the real content of the book, it gives a brief overview of history in which the authors attempt to illustrate the connections between certain esoteric sects. The Gnostics and Hermetics of the Roman period are portrayed as having received some of their inspiration and ideas from Ancient Egypt, and the later Cathars and Bogomils of medieval Europe are theorised to have both been the inheritors of this Gnostic and Hermetic knowledge. A moderate case is set forth to support this basic thesis, including a comparative look at early Hermetic writings and the Egyptian "Book of the Dead", but it seems the authors did not spend enough time on their ideas to give them real justice, I feel.
There are a few minor errors in this book that I noticed, which implies there may be more. On page 377 it is stated that on "27 December 1789 Pope Clement XII signed the order for Cagliostro's arrest." This can hardly be correct, considering Pope Clement XII died in 1740! It is also stated on page 473 that Julius Caesar founded the world's first republic; yet the Roman Republic had effectively ended before Caesar even came to power. He introduced the Julian calendar in 46 BC, too, not 48 BC as stated in the book.
This is a fairly interesting book at times, but you will probably not find everything in here convincing. Particularly feeble is the idea that certain famous cities have been aligned intentionally in certain manners of esoteric significance; for instance, so that the sun and Sirius both align with Pennsylvania Avenue on 12 August - obviously just a coincidence, in my opinion. Certain buildings or their layouts are said to have been secretly copied from ancient ones; maybe the authors have keener eyes than I, but I fail to see any correspondence whatsoever between the layout of the Louvre Palace and the Luxor temple at Thebes.
Ultimately, though, this is worth reading, but do not expect it to astonish you with its arguments and evidences set forth.
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Fascinating first half but loses its way
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The premise of Robert Bauval and Graham Hancock's book can be summarised as follows: Ancient Egyptian philosophy and thought has survived in various forms to the present day through Hermiticism, Gnostic Christianity, the Cathars, secret societies and freemasonary. The first section of this very weighty work is devoted to forms of Christianity which competed with Catholicism from the first centuries AD to the middle ages. Hancock and Bauval make a convincing case that a continuum exists between Gnostic thought in early Christian Egypt and the Cathars of 12th / 13th Century Languedoc via sects in Armenia, Turkey and the Balkans. And while other books about the Cathars have placed the Albigensian Crusade in a political context (French King stirs up trouble to extend France southwards), Hancock and Bauval present it as a clash of cultures, values and religion. Talisman presents both a very detailed and a very accessible explanation of what the Cathars actually believed. For that reason alone I found the book worth buying. Had the authors stopped their narrative in the early 14th century then Talisman for me would have been a hands down winner. Where it loses its way is in the second half of the book, where Hancock and Bauval try to explain how Hermetic thought carried on through the middle ages and rennaissance. The second half does however include some some fascinating nuggets of information, for example the obsession French revolutionary leaders had with ancient Egyptian religion and symbolism and how they wove it onto their 'Cult of the Supreme Being', which was to replace Christianity. Unfortunately the final few chapters seem almost rushed as if the authors wanted to finish up and move onto other projects. For example the last few chapter on the state of Israel and Islamic fundamentalism is pretty random and reads as if it was tacked on from another book altogether. This leaves the authors open to being mis-interpreted. Another reviewer has said that Bauval and Hancock claim some sort of masonic conspiracy was behind the creation of Israel. In no way do they believe a 'way out' and downright theory like this. As Robert Bauval says in the official website of the book, what they do believe is that there is much to support the contention that radical Arab and Judeo-Christian fundamentalists may actually believe is such a conspiracy. A crucial and a very big difference, but one that would have been clearer had they spent more time expanding on it, rather than adding it in the final section of Talisman almost as an afterthought.
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History as bunk
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This is not without merit as a work of fiction, but it's being marketed as fact and, as such, is as fine an example of the well known journalistic school of proof by repeated assertion as it has ever been my misfortune to encounter. That one of the sources is the thoroughly objectionable and utterly discredited Protocols of the Elders of Zion is at best regrettable.
To quote the late, great Dorothy Parker 'This is not a book to be cast aside lightly, it should be hurled with great force'.
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The perfect conspiracy theory.
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Talisman states: "It is well known that many presidents of the United States have been sworn Freemasons, including George Washington. These include the two presidents who had an involvement in the creation of the modern state of Israel: Franklin D. Roosevelt and, more directly, Harry S. Truman." (From the Talisman chapter "The Semblance of a "Zionist-Masonic Conspiracy") not meaning the exact (long) title of the Protocols published 1903, it is nevertheless the underlying theory of Talisman, that in die end wants to convince the reader of a Zionist-Masonic plot. Two pages before the end of the book, they ask the reader to "recall" the intense "Judaic" characteristics of the "Scottish Rite" proceeding in one and the same sentence with; " -the oppression of the Palestinian people and the political and military support that the superpower extends to the State of Israel. Could there have been more to Roosevelt's-and Truman's -involvement in the affair of the US Pentagon and the date of 11 September than at first meets the eye?" (Talisman p. 478) Freemasons however are not given any respite in Talisman, hereby possible also discounting protests by grandchildren or/and surviving relatives of the "intense Judaic Scottish Rite members "Roosevelt's-and Truman's" or/and testimonies by Masons in such case. In fact Graham Hancock and Robert Bauval make it very clear that: "Naturally most modern Freemasons vehemently deny all this"(Talisman p.357) After having been confronted with hundreds of 'coincidences ' ALL pointing to the SAME , "Could there have been more to Roosevelt's-and Truman's -involvement in the affair of the US Pentagon and the date of 11 September than at first meets the eye?", might indeed more echo like an answer then a question to the average reader expecting a nice informative book, the way it is indeed marketed to a mass public. Graham Hancock/Bauval getting the attention from the reader for the 'adventurer' 'Cagliostro' in the shortest of time then end up with bin-Laden. Fitting in with the suggestion Judaic-Masonry/ suppression of Palestinians in this way can move on to suggest bin-Laden in fact was trying to target Washington D.C., because' he knows'(!), of the occult Cabbalistic Tree of Life, in the layout of Washington D.C., with strong resemblances to Court de Gebelins' (friend of Thomas Paine) Tarot cards ! How do they do it, on p. 460, Court de Gebelin author of a major encyclopedic work , adept of the proto-Scottish Rite and Templarism in Freemasonry, stating that Cagliostro is "so much his Superior in every branch of learning". The goddess "reason" , as it turned out, so Hancock/Bauval in their chapter about Cagliostro titled "Prophet of Revolution"; would "much resemble Isis whom Gagliostro "extolled". So can it hardly surprise the similarity of the Statue of Liberty and Isis, or "Court de Gebelin" (with "Benjamin Franklin") escorting "Voltaire" and that "Cabalistic ideologies" in this circle included also "Thomas Paine" at "the precise" time that he was preparing to publish his celebrated "Rights of Man" !(Talisman p. 460) Could it be that Cagliostro's occultism, is via Gebelin connected with Rights of Man , the Statue of Liberty as an convenient excuse to claim bin-Laden was in fact targeting the occult, cabalist (Judaic) design of Washington DC ? therefore drawing in bin Laden (concerned about the Masonic/Judaic oppressed Palestinians)
It can also surprise also when they next proceed to freely borrow from "the distinguished historian Nesta Webster" author of "World Revolution." And as an almost verbatim quote from Nest Webster's World Revolution ; "It is surely also significant that Cagliostro, during his trial in Rome, admitted having been a member of the Illuminati."
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New 'Protocls of The Elders of Zion' agenda.
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Talisman : Sacred Cities, Secret Faith, wants to convince the reader of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion's claim that Freemasonry supported the establishment of Israel. Originally published as the "Minutes of the Universal World-wide Meeting of Masons and the Elders of Zion" the introduction tells these documents (Protocols) of the Zionist Congress in Switzerland, were stolen from one of the highest and most influential leaders of the Freemasons. Talisman's particular version of Freemasons as heirs of the Knights Templar promoting an agenda, was first promoted by the Jesuit Priest Agustin Barruel. Next,in 1806, Abbe Barruel circulated a letter calling attention to the alleged part of the Jews in the conspiracy. That Freemasons plotted the French Revolution (where able to even 'encode' most major City layouts in Europe!)and were instrumental in the foundation of Israel as Talisman claims, is utter nonsense. It was mostly French nobility at the time that were Masonic, and the Masonic lodge suffered greatly in the excesses of the revolution,most of the population in France whas thus also most participants of the Revolution. And not even a single founding fathers of Israel was ever a Freemason, that is fact. There is no goal in mainstream Masonry that calls for a Masonic state in Israel, thus the factual content of Talisman is just as fraudulent as the Protocols of The Elders of Zion( for well researched assesment of all these subjects see:http://www.epwijnants-lectures.com).
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