Book cover of The Entity: Five Centuries of Secret Vatican Espionage

Book description

For five centuries, the Vatican - the oldest organization in the world, maker of kings and shaper of history - has used a secret spy service, called the Holy Alliance, or later the Entity, to carry out its will. Forty popes have relied on it to carry out their policies.…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Entity as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Fascinated by the Roman Catholic Church and its internal organization, many years ago, I naively assumed the Vatican was the world’s center of piety and righteousness and the guardian of the world’s morality. This book helped me shed a stark light on reality.

I never knew that from the 16th century, the Church maintained a secret service, the Holy Alliance, that meddled in every aspect of European politics. In 1930, they were renamed ‘The Entity,’ with its counterespionage arm, the Sodalitium Pianum, and the Vatican had its CIA. Once I started, I couldn’t put this book down, shaking my head.…

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December on 5C4 by Adam Strassberg,

Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!

On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…

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