Just finished Alexandra Robbins’ The Secrets of the Tomb: Skull and Bones, the Ivy League, and the Hidden Paths of Power.

How can you publish a book about — mostly in a negative way — secret societies at Yale, where several times in the book you acknowledge being a member of another secret society at Yale, AND talk about the intersecting histories of these societies, but not say which society you joined?

Fortunately, this is the Internet. Alexandra was a member of the Scroll and Key, according to the Yale Herald. Not quite the Skull and Bones, which produced 3 Presidents of the United States, but which did produce Dean Acheson and Dr Spock (the childcare guy, not the one with pointy ears), Gary Trudeau, and Cole Porter.

Best piece of trivia learned from this experience: Cole Porter and Dean Acheson were roommates at Harvard Law School, until Cole Porter dropped out to focus on music.

Complaints aside, it was interesting to see all the fodder for conspiracy theories through the ages. I had no idea how weird of a place Yale was, or how obsessed people were with being invited to join these clubs. I guess I’m just not "clubby."