| Episode number | MB17 (Part 17 of 42) |
|---|---|
| Original air date | March 31, 1993 |
| Broadcast | Hour of the Time, WWCR shortwave |
| Chapter title | Bibliography |
| Format | Cooper reads his personal research library aloud; no external text read at length |
| Listen | Stream the series on archive.org |
Episode Summary
Episode 17 of the Mystery Babylon series aired on March 31, 1993, the day after the Sun Worship broadcast, and occupies a unique place in the series. Rather than advancing a new historical argument, Cooper devotes the hour to reading his personal research bibliography aloud on the air. He opens by explaining that his private library surpasses most city libraries in scope, that he has personally read every volume in it, and that the books he is about to list represent the starting point a serious listener needs to reach the level of understanding Cooper claims for himself. The format is a public act of methodological transparency: here are the sources, go verify the claims yourself.
The bibliography opens with constitutional and historical foundations. Cooper recommends Our Ageless Constitution, edited by W. David Stedman and LaVaughn G. Lewis, as the essential primer on the ideals behind the founding of the United States. He follows it with a Masonic primary source of unusual age: a twelfth-edition copy, printed in New York by A.S. Barnes in 1854, of Jeremy Cross’s The True Masonic Chart or Hieroglyphic Monitor, a volume containing a letter signed by Benjamin Franklin and a complete Masonic history written by a brother of the fraternity. Cooper presents the existence of such books in secondhand shops as evidence that a determined researcher can locate primary documentation without institutional support.
The mythology and comparative religion section is anchored by three volumes from Joseph Campbell’s Masks of God series: Primitive Mythology, Occidental Mythology, and Creative Mythology, all published by Penguin. These are joined by Mircea Eliade’s The Sacred and the Profane, which Cooper presents as essential for understanding the structure of religious myth. On the more esoteric side he lists A.S. Raleigh’s Occult Geometry and Hermetic Science of Motion and Number and Allen H. Barber’s Celestial Symbols. Cooper notes that the publisher of the latter, Horizon Publishers of Bountiful, Utah, has a name meaning Horus Rising, an example of the symbolic naming he argues runs through the institutions he is investigating.
The series on the Templar and bloodline research begins with the four books by Baigent, Lincoln, and Leigh: Holy Blood, Holy Grail; The Messianic Legacy; The Temple and the Lodge; and The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception, the last of which Cooper mentions he has just ordered and not yet read. He endorses the first three as essential for understanding the history of a secret society whose purpose, he says, has been to protect the bloodline of a family claiming divine right to rule. He then recommends Julius Caesar by Michael Grant as a study of the ancient Roman political machinery he believes prefigures the New World Order.
Cooper describes John J. Robinson’s Born in Blood: The Lost Secrets of Freemasonry as among the most important books in his library, reading at length from the dust jacket to convey Robinson’s central thesis that the Knights Templar in Britain formed the secret mutual-protection society that became Freemasonry. He pairs it with Robinson’s subsequent book, Dungeon, Fire and Sword: The Knights Templar in the Crusades, reading from its flyleaf as well. On the Dead Sea Scrolls, Cooper recommends Understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls edited by Hershel Shanks, but warns listeners that everyone who has controlled the scrolls since their discovery has been in the pay of the Rockefeller family and that the interpretations now reaching the public may be deliberately shaped.
The bibliography broadens into modern conspiracy and New World Order literature: John Robinson A.M.’s 1798 Proofs of a Conspiracy, reprinted by Western Islands as part of the Americanist Classics series; William T. Still’s The New World Order: The Ancient Plan of Secret Societies; Gary H. Kah’s En Route to Global Occupation; and two books by A. Ralph Epperson, The Unseen Hand and The New World Order. Cooper notes that Epperson will be a guest on the show in coming weeks and that he has used Epperson’s work extensively in the Mystery Babylon series already. He also lists Texe Marrs’s Dark Majesty with a caveat that Marrs’s heavy Christian framing may put off non-Christian readers, though the factual content is solid.
Two titles by Manly P. Hall, 33rd degree Freemason and founder of the Philosophical Research Society, receive Cooper’s highest individual endorsement: Freemasonry of the Ancient Egyptians and America’s Assignment with Destiny, published by the Philosophical Research Society. Cooper says the latter contains incredible admissions that illuminate events in American history that previously made no sense. He also recommends A History of Secret Societies by Arkon Daraul, which listeners will recognize as the primary source quoted in episodes 8 and 13; The Mystery Religions and Christianity by Samuel Angus; and The Blackwell Dictionary of Judaica by Dan Cohn-Sherbok for its Kabbalistic definitions. He closes the list with a handful of additional titles and a catalogue address for a research supply organisation called HELP Research in Mokelumne Hill, California.
Woven throughout the list are Cooper’s running observations on the method of research itself. He argues repeatedly that a serious student must read books written from opposing viewpoints, including Communist and Islamic sources, because refusing to engage with them is a form of self-imposed ignorance that will be fatal in what he describes as an ongoing ideological war. He admits forgetting to include Albert Pike’s Morals and Dogma in the bibliography, adding it mid-broadcast as an important omission. He also makes an unusually personal disclosure: most of his income throughout his life has gone toward building his library because he concluded early on that the sum total of human knowledge resides in books and that research, not received authority, is the only path to truth. He specifically instructs listeners not to believe him on the basis of his authority but to verify everything through their own reading.
The bibliography episode functions as both a companion and a key to the rest of the series. Every book listed here either fed material into earlier episodes or is flagged for future use. The full list of sources cited across the series, with links to public-domain originals where available, is maintained at the series sources hub.
Key Claims Made in This Episode
Because this is a bibliography episode, Cooper’s claims are about the sources themselves rather than about historical events. Documented from the broadcast; the site records these claims without endorsing them.
- Cooper claims his personal library exceeds most city libraries in scope and that he has read every book in it, making it the research foundation for the entire Mystery Babylon series.
- Cooper claims that John J. Robinson’s Born in Blood proves beyond dispute that the Knights Templar in Britain formed the secret mutual-protection society that became Freemasonry, endorsing Robinson’s thesis as established fact.
- Cooper claims that the four Baigent, Lincoln, and Leigh books document the history of a secret society whose sole purpose is to protect the bloodline of a family claiming the divine right to rule, and that this same family rules the United States.
- Cooper claims that everyone who has controlled access to the Dead Sea Scrolls since their discovery has been in the pay of the Rockefeller family, and that the interpretations being published may be intentional disinformation.
- Cooper claims that Albert Pike’s Morals and Dogma contains direct evidence that the god worshipped at the highest levels of Freemasonry is Lucifer, and that he forgot to include it in his prepared bibliography.
- Cooper claims that Manly P. Hall’s America’s Assignment with Destiny contains incredible admissions that explain events in American history previously inexplicable to outside observers.
- Cooper claims that John Robinson A.M.’s 1798 Proofs of a Conspiracy is so essential that if listeners absorb nothing else from his broadcasts they must read that single book.
- Cooper claims that a researcher who refuses to read books written from Communist, Islamic, or otherwise alien viewpoints will be defeated in the ongoing war against Mystery Babylon because they will never understand their adversary.
Books Listed in This Episode
This is not a sources table in the usual sense: Cooper is listing books from his library rather than reading from them on air. For the full cross-referenced list of every source cited across the series, with public-domain links, see the sources and bibliography hub.
| Title and author | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Our Ageless Constitution, ed. W. David Stedman and LaVaughn G. Lewis | n.d. | Stedman Liberty Library; constitutional primer |
| The True Masonic Chart or Hieroglyphic Monitor, Jeremy L. Cross | 1854 (12th ed.) | Public domain; search archive.org |
| Primitive Mythology: The Masks of God, Joseph Campbell | 1959 | Penguin Books |
| Occidental Mythology: The Masks of God, Joseph Campbell | 1964 | Penguin Books |
| Creative Mythology: The Masks of God, Joseph Campbell | 1968 | Penguin Books |
| The Sacred and the Profane, Mircea Eliade | 1957 | Harcourt Brace Jovanovich; tr. from French |
| Occult Geometry and Hermetic Science of Motion and Number, A.S. Raleigh | n.d. | DeVorss Publications |
| Celestial Symbols, Allen H. Barber | n.d. | Horizon Publishers, Bountiful UT |
| Holy Blood, Holy Grail, Baigent, Lincoln and Leigh | 1982 | Not public domain; see sources hub |
| The Messianic Legacy, Baigent, Lincoln and Leigh | 1986 | Not public domain; see sources hub |
| The Temple and the Lodge, Baigent, Lincoln and Leigh | 1989 | Not public domain; see sources hub |
| The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception, Baigent and Leigh | 1991 | Not public domain; see sources hub |
| Julius Caesar, Michael Grant | 1969 | Biography; not public domain |
| Born in Blood: The Lost Secrets of Freemasonry, John J. Robinson | 1989 | Not public domain; read on air in MB13 |
| Dungeon, Fire and Sword: The Knights Templar in the Crusades, John J. Robinson | 1991 | Not public domain |
| The Future of Man, Robert Klark Graham | n.d. | S.C. Books, Friendswood TX |
| A History of Mathematics (2nd ed.), Carl B. Boyer | 1968 | Wiley; foreword by Isaac Asimov |
| Understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls, ed. Hershel Shanks | 1992 | Random House; Cooper warns of Rockefeller control |
| Pagans and Christians, Robin Lane Fox | 1986 | Knopf; early church history |
| Preparing for the Twenty-First Century, Paul Kennedy | 1993 | Random House |
| Proofs of a Conspiracy, John Robison A.M. | 1798 | Public domain; reprinted by Western Islands (Americanist Classics); search archive.org |
| Time Bomb, Piller | n.d. | Arco; Cooper cites for Liberty Lobby origins |
| The New World Order: The Ancient Plan of Secret Societies, William T. Still | 1990 | Huntington House Publishers |
| En Route to Global Occupation, Gary H. Kah | 1992 | Huntington House Publishers |
| Dark Majesty, Texe Marrs | 1992 | Cooper notes religious framing may limit audience |
| Satanic Voices: Ancient and Modern, David Musa Pidcock | n.d. | Mustaqim (Islamic Party of Great Britain) |
| The Unseen Hand, A. Ralph Epperson | 1985 | Used extensively in the series; Epperson forthcoming as guest |
| The New World Order, A. Ralph Epperson | 1990 | Used extensively in the series |
| Freemasonry of the Ancient Egyptians, Manly P. Hall | 1937 | Philosophical Research Society |
| The Lost Keys of Freemasonry, Manly P. Hall | 1923 | Philosophical Research Society; search archive.org for early editions |
| America’s Assignment with Destiny, Manly P. Hall | 1951 | Philosophical Research Society; Cooper calls it essential |
| The Blackwell Dictionary of Judaica, Dan Cohn-Sherbok | 1992 | Blackwell Reference; recommended for Kabbalistic terminology |
| A Dictionary of Freemasonry, Robert Macoy | 1869 | Public domain; search archive.org |
| The Mystery Religions and Christianity, Samuel Angus | 1925 | University Books; public domain; search archive.org |
| A History of Secret Societies, Arkon Daraul | 1961 | Citadel Press; read on air in MB08 and MB13 |
| The Occult Conspiracy, Michael Howard | 1989 | Destiny Books, Rochester VT; Cooper flags sympathetic framing |
| The New Age Bible, Dr. John Rodgers | n.d. | Inner Light Publications |
| The Mormon Murders, Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith | 1988 | Cooper recommends for symbolic connections |
| Morals and Dogma, Albert Pike | 1871 | Public domain; Cooper adds mid-broadcast as an omission; search archive.org |
Notable Quotes
The sum total of all man’s knowledge is contained in books. But you have to root it out. Not all books are true, not all books tell the truth, not all books are all lies. You have to have the information to do the research and come up with the answers.
Cooper, MB17, March 31, 1993
If you didn’t get anything else I have ever told you, get that book and read it.
Cooper, MB17, March 31, 1993, on John Robison’s 1798 Proofs of a Conspiracy
What the Bibliography Reveals About the Series
The bibliography is a methodological statement as much as a reading list. Several patterns stand out when the list is examined as a whole. First, Cooper draws simultaneously from academic historians (Campbell, Eliade, Fox, Grant), popular synthesisers working outside the academy (Robinson, Baigent et al.), and authors openly committed to exposing a conspiracy (Epperson, Still, Marrs). He does not distinguish these categories by credibility; each is presented as contributing pieces of a puzzle that only he has assembled into the complete picture. Second, the Masonic insider literature, Hall, Daraul, Cross, Macoy, and Pike, forms the evidentiary spine of the series. Cooper treats these authors as inadvertent witnesses who reveal secrets the reader must decode by understanding the difference between exoteric and esoteric meaning. Third, the list pointedly excludes academic works on Freemasonry or the Knights Templar that do not support a conspiratorial reading, which gives no indication of the substantial scholarly literature that takes a different view. For that context, see the Historians’ View sections of individual episode pages and the sources hub.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Mystery Babylon episode 17 about?
Episode 17 is the series bibliography: Cooper reads his personal research library aloud, listing dozens of books with authors and publishers, and explains why each belongs in a serious student’s collection. It is the only episode in which Cooper speaks primarily about his sources rather than from them. The sources and bibliography hub carries the full cross-referenced list for the whole series.
Is Morals and Dogma by Albert Pike on Cooper’s list?
Yes, though Cooper admits he forgot to include it in his prepared bibliography and adds it mid-episode after reading a passage about Pike from A. Ralph Epperson’s book in the immediately following broadcast. Pike’s Morals and Dogma (1871) is public domain and can be found on archive.org.
Why does Cooper warn about the Dead Sea Scrolls?
Cooper claims that every scholarly team given access to the scrolls since their 1947 discovery has been funded by the Rockefeller family and that the published translations therefore reflect Rockefeller interests rather than the actual content of the documents. He recommends the Shanks reader with that caveat attached.
Where can I listen to episode 17?
The series is preserved on archive.org. The site never hosts or distributes the audio; see our content policy.
Continue the Series
- Previous: MB16: Sun Worship
- Next: MB18: Lucifer Worship
- Full bibliography and source links: Mystery Babylon sources and bibliography hub
- Topic hub: Mystery Schools and Ancient Religion
- Related hub: Freemasonry
- Every dated claim from this episode: series timeline
- Full index: Mystery Babylon complete episode guide
- Background: Who was William Cooper?
