Secret Society (Paperback)

High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles Secret society is a term used to describe clubs or organisations in which the activities and inner functioning of those societies is concealed from non-members. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence agencies or guerrilla insurgencies, which hide their activities and memberships but maintain a public presence. The exact qualifications for labeling a group as a secret society are disputed, but definitions generally rely on the degree to which the organization insists on secrecy, and might involve the retention and transmission of secret knowledge, denial of membership in or knowledge of the group, the creation of personal bonds between members of the organization, and the use of secret rites or rituals which solidify members of the group. Examples of historical and existing secret societies include Freemasonry, the Knights Templar, the Rosicrucians, Skull and Bones, the Thule Society and the Illuminati.