“The powers of financial capitalism had a far-reaching (plan), nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole.” - Carroll Quigley
Read that quote of Carroll Quigley twice. He means it and he knows whereof he speaks. To many this man needs no introduction and for those who don't know who he is, it will be easy to establish his credentials. Here is a truncated sketch of his accomplishments.
He was a professor of history at Harvard, Princeton and the Foreign Service School of Georgetown University. He was an editor of Current History Monthly, a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Anthropological Association and the American Economic Association. He has been a lecturer on Russian history at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, a lecturer on Africa at the Brookings Institution, a lecturer at the U. S. Naval Weapons Laboratory, a lecturer at the Foreign Service Institute of the State Department and a lecturer at the Naval College at Norfolk, Virginia. He was a consultant to the Congressional Select Committee when they were setting up the present day space agency in 1958. He was a collaborator in history to the Smithsonian Institution after that year, when it established its Museum of History and Technology. In 1964 he went to the Navy post-Graduate School in Monterey, California as a consultant on Project Seabed. This project was to visualize what American weapons systems would be like twelve years into the future.
To you who are still reading this review, there are three very important books Mr. Quigley wrote that I heartily recommend you to read. The books are: The Evolution of Civilizations, Tragedy and Hope: A History of the World in Our Time and The Anglo-American Establishment.
It must be borne in mind that Mr. Q. was a willing member of the powers to which he refers to in the quote above. Thus, this review is not written to shine a light on the professor. Anyone who bothers to read his books will stand in awe of his intellect, ability and thorough knowledge. He worked for the power elite and was philosophically one of their own. He fully believed in their mission and he educated their offspring with a much higher quality curriculum than most other students have access to. The moneyed men who actually steer the ships of state, have always sought out, groomed and funded the very best and brightest minds. Carroll Quigley had an exceptional grasp of history.
Being a part of the ruling class himself, he was given the access and funding to pore over the private records of the Royal Institute of International Affairs and the Council of Foreign Relations. If you are not familiar with these institutions, it would be well to look into their origins for yourself in order to understand the importance of Professor Quigley's affiliation. To simplify, he got to see the minutes of meetings that few eyes are ever privy to. In fact, the only discord that I am aware of between Quigley and his powerful world-shaping employers, was that Carroll was a truly forthright individual. He sincerely believed that the world these men were and are attempting to create would be a better one. Fuelled by his pride and enthusiasm, Carroll thought that it was time to let all of the rest of us to become aware of the big plan.
His vehicle toward this goal was his book, Tragedy and Hope. Ironically, he was asked by these institutions to write this book, so that the progeny of the power elite would have a written record of their forebears' exploits. A lesson in how they accomplished their ends, if you will. Through the daunting process, of which he was likely the only living person capable of undertaking, in the unanimous opinion of his peers, he revealed far too much.
There was trouble for Carroll afterwards. After choosing and following an exclusive path of stealth, subterfuge and Fabian Socialism, it didn't square with the elite's modus operandi to come clean to the masses that they fed on, feared and held in contempt. It should have been obvious to the Professor that the masks will not come off until total control has been achieved and they are at no risk themselves. At least, in my opinion, the learned Carroll had a pair of equally noble balls. I recommend reading his books in the order I have listed here. The second book is over twelve hundred pages, while the other two are of standard length.
To those of you who are still reading this, I will tell you to also bear in mind that these books were not written for the average person to consume. I do not mean regarding intellect. We all possess that. Do get an Oxford dictionary if need be and take your time reading it. Rather, I mean it was intended to educate those who would become the next generation of politicians, generals and Chief Executive Officers. Unfortunately for them and luckily for us, in order to do that, the nasty, naked truth must be told, as long as it is not told to the average person. That is exactly why Tragedy and Hope is an invaluable resource for the average person.
After reading these books, you will no longer be a history virgin but I can tell you that you will respect yourself in the morning. You will be amazed and probably angry by turns but if you relax and let the learning sink in at its own pace, I believe you will come to find a new kind of peace of mind when you realize that much of what happens in the world does indeed make perfect logical sense. There are many plans underway that you may not be privy to you. This was also true for your parents and your grandparents.
I disagree with Professor Quigley's estimation of civilization as outlined in The Evolution of Civilizations. I do not disagree with his explanation of the mechanics of its evolution. I believe that without his broad view, one cannot hope to understand much of our world. In my opinion, this difference in our outlook betrays Carroll Quigley's own indoctrination. Further, I believe that time will prove him wrong in the end. Simply put, he contends that a hunter-gatherer's lifestyle is parasitic, as do his peers. Thus, he places it at the bottom of his scholarly "time-line of progress.”
I argue that his "progressed civilization" is parasitic and that it represents a decline in our civilization, not an advance. If I could have met him for coffee before he died in 1977, I would have taken a model of his time-line and bent it into a circle. Then I could move the "start" marker to the current calendar date and demonstrate to the Professor that natural humans would have progressed forwards toward what he had labelled primitive, if they had been unmolested. Further, I would suggest to him that a mighty long time went by before the beginning of his time-line of progress. It can easily be argued without, easily being disproved that the hunter-gatherer lifestyle, prior to the Sumerians, was the pinnacle of civilization and that we have been in a steep decline ever since. What do you think?
The Anglo-American Establishment will dovetail nicely with the other two books. By the time you get to it, if you have followed the order I have set out, it will be a simple read. Afterwards, you will begin to understand what the special relationship between America and the United Kingdom is really all about. Just as weapons are inanimate until wielded by a person, the sheer potential of great intellects like Carroll Quigley's to be used as powerful tools, always attracts the Saint George and King Arthur types of this world. Despite my disagreeing with his beliefs and mistrusting the wisdom and intent of his employers, I admire Quigley as an intellect and as a man. I think that it is wholly fitting that because of his personal decency, transparency and brilliance, the carpet was lifted up in 1966 and the creatures underneath have been scurrying ever since.
fin