The Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross

One of the best histories available on the Rosicrucians! Waite writes in an intellectual non-condescending manner to help the reader fully understand the origins and development of this esoteric fraternity. Will clear up any confusion about different splinter gorups and how they relate to each other. A great read!

Waite attempts to trace the history of the Rosicrucians from before the publication of the Fama to his contemporaries. His style is very difficult to read, and the book reads like a doctoral thesis written in lavish 19th century prose (which is almost exactly what this book is). Almost every page contains footnoted references, which was the style of the times, and they are almost all in Latin and German. If you know German you will do OK, but a cursory knowledge of Latin is recommended if you want to understand any of the references -- translations are not provided by the author. Besides presenting his own theories, Waite examines efforts put forth by other authors. Typical of Waite, he all but calls them blundering idiots. To his credit, he is ruthless in presenting textual evidence and references for all his claims. This is a very dry and scholarly work, and unless you are truly interested in the subject matter, you should pass this one over. However, if you would like a good start to research the Rosicrucians complete with references to base documents, this is definitely the book to get.