Very readable and thorough, if not especially deep, book about the men's clubs in English-speaking upper-class society in the 18th Century, with a focus on those that secretly celebrated blasphemy and sexual deviance. There is not a lot of historical context only because to provide it woudl require a 1200-page history of the period, or something, and the sources are thin enough and unreliable enough that much of the information is spotty. Even so, Lord does a wonderful job of weaving it all into a wicked narrative that's skeptical toward the claims of contemporaries and later writers, but still has plenty of fun with the misbehavior of the wealthy. Anyone but a history nerd would probably find it fairly dry, but I loved it. The references are exceptional, which is valuable when looking at a fairly obscure topic like this.

A solid examination on what little evidence remains of the Hell-fire Clubs and their ilk. Lord does end the book abruptly, however, and those hoping for salacious orgies should look elsewhere.