Robbins, Alexandra. Secrets of the tomb; Skull and Bones, the Ivy League, and the hidden paths of power

Kliatt, Nov, 2003 by Nola Theiss

Little, Brown, Back Bay. 230p, bibliog, index, c2002. 0-316-73561-2. $13.95. SA

Almost everyone who has attended college in the U.S. over the last few hundred years has heard of the Skull and Bones Society at Yale University, although they may not know much about it as it is veiled in deliberate secrecy. This book unmasks its hidden history and reveals much about its members in an entertaining and thorough manner.

Robbins is a graduate of Yale and a member of another of its secret societies. She has written for the New Yorker magazine and been on its staff. Her research skills are evident in this meticulous history of the most famous college society that has had multiple presidents, Supreme Court Justices and famous businessmen as its members. She is as brutally frank about its silly rituals as she is about the powerful networking influence it has had in politics and business. Since our current president is a member of Skull and Bones, as are his father and numerous family members, this expose is especially revealing about the impact such a society has on our country's leaders. Nola Theiss, Sanibel, FL