Is Freemasonry nothing more than a benign and charitable men's social club as the Order insists or does it have a deeper and perhaps darker purpose? Could these men be part of the IlluminatiA" - a group of intellectuals with extremely grand plans for the development of civilization? And if so, what is the grand plan that these men were so determined to bring about, and why should there be such opposition to it? Christopher Knight and Alan Butler reveal that present-day freemasons are the spiritual descendents of an ancient priesthood that was forced to act in secrecy. In the early days of Christianity their views offended and opposed those of the orthodox Church, and later in feudal Europe, both the State and the established Church considered them heretics and sworn enemies. Yet they could not be silenced - or defeated - and members of this priesthood have continued to this day to work in subtle and sometimes subversive ways to achieve their aims, often occupying very elevated positions within Western society, and always maintaining complete anonymity to those outside their fellowship. The extraordinary story that unfolds in The Hiram Key Revisited reveals that the building of the modern world was no haphazard process. There was a grand plan - and it has succeeded. The New World OrderA" is already here.