In the 13th century; the Church came down against the Cathars; who had settled in the French Pyrenees. The Cathars practiced a belief in which "perfects" acted as priests that educated their followers in a specific system of beliefs and who aided the believers in "dying consciously;" which was also at the heart of ancient Egyptian belief systems. Both the Egyptians and the Cathars felt they had to "cheat" the cycle of reincarnation (the cycle of evil); and "ascend" to the world of light. In the 20th century; both local amateur archaeologists and German Nazis such as Otto Rahn became interested in Catharism and sent investigators to the region. The Germans specifically were searching for the Holy Grail. They uncovered the ancient sanctuaries of the Cathars -- often caves in perilous locations -- and found Egyptian artifacts in them: statues of the Egyptian gods. Was the Grail perhaps a sacred Egyptian artifact? One such researcher was Deodat Roche; nicknamed the Cathar Pope. As magistrate of Arques; he came across Egyptian relics scattered in his town which had been known as a major Cathar stronghold. he continued his researches further afield; in the heartland of the Cathars; where he learned how others; including a priest named Glory; had found an ancient Egyptian statue in a cave; which was the center of worship of the Cathars. After World War II; these findings were quickly destined to be forgotten; because of the Nazi connection. Hence; the truth of the Cathar religion could once again not be made public. For the first time; all the key ingredients will be pieced together; and the enigmatic relationship between the Cathars and the Templars highlighted.
#1191752 in Books 2016-10-19 2016-11-02Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.00 x 1.20 x 6.10l; .0 #File Name: 1911096699576 pages
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy richard fullergreat12 of 14 people found the following review helpful. Nice synthesisBy Gary DicksonThis is a very good popular history of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878; but I'm giving it only four stars because that's what it is; a good rehash of the more common English-language books. If a German tried to write a book on the American Civil War using only German-language sources; we would justifiably be skeptical. Yet here is Mr. Barry writing about a war between Russia and the Ottoman Empire and there does not seem to be a single Russian-language source. This is too bad; because there is a tremendous amount of Russian material on this battle; much of it online. There is a multi-volume history; an even larger compilation of contemporary military documents; a number of regimental histories; and many books by participants. So when Mr. Barry writes on page 265 that "History does not record whether there was a great deal of consideration given to alternatives to an assault on Plevna...;" he should have added "in English." Luckily for us; the English-language works are pretty good; from Maurice's strategical analysis written in 1905; Lt. Greene's book written in 1879; and von Herbert's book published in 1895; to Bruce Menning's more modern work. Mr. Barry has neglected several important sources in English however; including David Rich's book on the Russian General Staff; many relevant articles in contemporary military journals that are on Google Books; and to be really thorough; important documents at the UK archives.The book is blessed with some of the best maps in any work of history; informative drawings by newspaper artists; and some fantastic reproductions of paintings of battle scenes. Like other Helion books; the book uses very high quality paper which makes the book weigh a lot but really does justice to the maps and pictures.The above criticisms notwithstanding; the book is a very good general history of the battle but it doesn't break any new ground. The author has done us a service by bringing a little-known war back into the public's eye (or the eye of the thousand or so of us who buy the limited-edition hard copy!).1 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy CustomerA very good book.
