I think I had among the best possible of introductions to the topic by reading the Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson. When these two men met they were employed as editors of PlayBoy magazine's letters column in the late 60s to early 70s. In addition to the general type of submissions they might receive they also got many letters from nearly every stripe of conspiracy theorists including many competing claims about the Kennedy assassinations. These weren't the sort of material that generally got published so the two Roberts started making a collection of them. It wasn't long before they saw that there was a book to be written here.

The trilogy is a little hard to explain in any direct or linear fashion and for good reason, it was written to be anything but direct and linear. But if you pay attention to the little details it does explain it's self to you. There's a conversation mid way into the book which claims that the average human being is capable of holding 7 plus or minus two separate ideas in their head at any one time and perceive the relationships between them. As more elements are added it not only can you not find how the new ideas relate but the effort in trying makes the original elements more difficult to understand. This is why the first book starts off with so many separate plot lines, not always in linear sequence and sometimes fairly nonsensical (life in Central Park as view through the eyes of a squirrel) but as the books go on the plot lines reconcile into a comprehensible whole.

Sprinkled through the entire read are examples of a truly impressive number of paranoid ideas from the lunatic fringes of both the left and the right. If you want to think THE Illuminati is far to the right of the John Birch society you'll find proof for that, if you want to think they're so far to the left you can prove that too. This can, in part be explained by the theory that there isn't one single Illuminati, but rather five of them frequently acting at cross purposes, that too is part of the plan. There's also an impressive level of historical scholarship displayed and deliberately mixed with some really funny fabrications. I love the "idea" that John Dillinger assassinated JFK but to me the funniest scene in the book is where Jesus Christ teaches the Apostles to play Bingo. [And says "This do in remembrance of me." Hey wait a minute, one apostle asked, weren't we suposed to do the wine and bread thing in remembrance? "Yea, do that too but that's too esoteric for most people, this one will bring in the masses. Remember, if you want to bring the people to the movement bring the movement to the people. Hey you, Luke, don't write that one down. It's part of the secret teachings."]