In the 18th century a variety of largely enlightenment figures came together in a massive conspiracy to try and control the world. This is one of the most potent conspiracy theories out there has found its way into the literature of such luminaries as Dan Brown. In recent years a tremendous group of scholars in Germany have written a serious history of the Illuminati which did exist.
Niall Ferguson is the preeminent historian of the ideas that define our time. He has challenged how we think about money, power, civilisation and empires. Now he wants to reimagine history itself. Networks, he explains, are the key to history. The greatest innovators have been ‘superhubs’ of connections. The most powerful states, empires and companies have been those with the most densely networked structures. And the most transformative ideas – from the printing presses that launched the Reformation to the Freemasonry that inspired the American Revolution – have gone viral precisely because of the networks within which they spread. Our host for this conversation is historian, author and broadcaster, Rana Mitter. The audio of this live Intelligence Squared event was recorded in London in 2017.
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