Alexandra Robbins...

[Glitter650]

She didn't go into detail about the whole initiation ceremony of any orgs. But she did reveal some "secrets" which... thank goodness were WRONG... I think she just did it because she wanted to make the secrets seem frivolous... which is why she included the part about the members saying they felt is was a "hassle" and later after citing something that was written about in one of the sororities' handbooks she refers to ritual as "nothing more than passwords and handshakes" or something to that effect... to make it seem that ritual isn't really that important a part of greeek life, or really that important.

[ISUKappa]

After all, this is coming from a woman who, as a member of a secret society, "joined out of curiousity but stayed for the beer." So I'm sure she puts a lot of stock in ritual.

I found that quote in an interview with her, I'll have to see if I can find it again.

[decadence]

Why are there still two threads (at very least) on the Greek Life forum on this, including this one with her name as thread title not the book title?

I thought duplicate threads if there was already a current one on same page were not encouraged?

ISUKappa: After all, this is coming from a woman who, as a member of a secret society, "joined out of curiousity but stayed for the beer." So I'm sure she puts a lot of stock in ritual.

You used the word secret society so I'm guessing it was deliberately chosen as the group wasn't a sorority or fraternity but was in fact a secret society á la the Skulls. I imagine lotsa people out there in the world are curious about such groups. No idea about the quote; I hadn't seen it before - maybe she said it maybe she didn't; in any case I've no idea of the context it was in. And hell, a lot of freshman frat boys join for the beer (though admittedly hopefully become fraternity men with better & nobler reasons for sticking around!) .

[moe.ron]

Is Alexandra Robbins hot? Anybody got her pic?

[IvySpice]

Not all of the "secrets" in that book are wrong. There's only one that I'm in a position to know, but it's true. All the rest could easily be wrong, of course; I'm just saying she did have at least one informant from one group who knew what she was talking about. I don't know whether that makes it worse or better; maybe some of each.

[ISUKappa]

For decadence:


transcript from an interview from Democracy Now, published January 22, 2004
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0122-10.htm

AMY GOODMAN: Talk about how some people use it as the extension of their phone and other passwords. Alexandra Robbins, you, too, are a member of a secret society at Yale. Can you explain what that is?

ALEXANDRA ROBBINS: Sure. I was a member. Ever since “Secrets of the Tomb” came out, I cannot get members of my own society to talk to me. I believe that means I’m out. Which is okay, because you only joined it for the free alcohol in the first place. The society is called. Scroll and Key, the second oldest society at Yale.

And from the Yale Alumni Magazine, February 2003
http://www.yalealumnimagazine.com/is..._02/faces.html

"I accepted the tap because of curiosity and stayed in because of the beer," explained Secrets of the Tomb author Alexandra Robbins '98 about her membership in Scroll and Key. At a Saybrook College master's tea on November 11, Robbins said she researched her book on Skull and Bones by going through a Bones membership catalog and finding alumni who were "sick of the rules like me" to interview.

[APhi Diva]

Originally posted by IvySpice
Not all of the "secrets" in that book are wrong. There's only one that I'm in a position to know, but it's true. All the rest could easily be wrong, of course; I'm just saying she did have at least one informant from one group who knew what she was talking about. I don't know whether that makes it worse or better; maybe some of each.

I'd wager that more of them are correct than anyone would give her the satisfaction of admitting!

[kddani]

Originally posted by APhi Diva
I'd wager that more of them are correct than anyone would give her the satisfaction of admitting!

A lot of what she "reveals" is public knowledge that she tries to make it seem like a secret.

She takes the descriptions of our first, second, and third degree ceremonies right out of our pledge manual, which is online, and public knowledge. Sure, those descriptions are correct. But they're not secrets.

I loved the white dresses part.... thats the vast majority of NPC groups.... and it's certainly not secretive!

Ugh.... this book is a fluff piece. Her "citation" system drives me nuts.... she has all the endnotes in the back of the book, but there's no numbers or particular references in the actual text of the book.

For a Yale graduate, it's incredibly poorly written. It jumps all over the place and is hard to follow. And it's more of an insight into the lives of several college girls than much to do with sororities.

[sugar and spice]

Originally posted by IvySpice
Not all of the "secrets" in that book are wrong. There's only one that I'm in a position to know, but it's true. All the rest could easily be wrong, of course; I'm just saying she did have at least one informant from one group who knew what she was talking about. I don't know whether that makes it worse or better; maybe some of each.

Agreed. I know for a fact that some of them are wrong. I also am pretty damn sure that some of them are right. Anybody familiar with NPC sororities should be able to pick out some of the false ones -- open motto reported as a secret one, etc. Honestly, the more detail she goes into and the more "out there" the information seems, the more likely it's true . . .

On that note, I don't think that coming on GC and saying "It's not true" is going to sway most people's opinions.

[ADPi1201]

All I have to say on the issue of this woman is that she really upsets me. I mean, who would make a living out of hurting organizations that have been secret for hundreds of years. These organizations are secret for a reason and to be a member of Skull and Bones, Scroll and Key or any greek organization is a privalege. How dare some woman write not one of these "outing" books but two. Get a life.

[James]

I thought i would move the discussion a bit:

http://greekchat.com/gcforums/showth...threadid=50220

[AGDAlum]

FWIW, the book got a positive review ("recommended for purchase") in Library Journal, which is used by nearly every public library in the country for selecting books.

The reviewers are librarians; since I didn't make a copy of the review and I've already sent that issue of LJ to the next person on the list, I don't remember who did the review. (I could look it up, though.)

AGDAlum
who is a librarian, and who does review for LJ (I wish they'd sent me the Robbins book, but they didn't), and who has requested the book via interlibrary loan

[kddani]

Originally posted by AGDAlum
FWIW, the book got a positive review ("recommended for purchase") in Library Journal, which is used by nearly every public library in the country for selecting books.

The reviewers are librarians; since I didn't make a copy of the review and I've already sent that issue of LJ to the next person on the list, I don't remember who did the review. (I could look it up, though.)

AGDAlum
who is a librarian, and who does review for LJ (I wish they'd sent me the Robbins book, but they didn't), and who has requested the book via interlibrary loan

Question: do they ever give negative or neutral reviews, out of curiousity?

[33girl]

And in addition to kddani's question: is this based on quality of the book or how likely it is to circulate?

[meridionaleDG]

Just as some clarification (because a lot of people seem to be confused):

A. She follows 3 girls from "Alpha Rho" and 1 girl from "Beta Pi" - two rival sororities at "State U" - I believe all of these girls were Sophomores.

B. She was never initiated. The 4 girls pretended that she was a close friend.

C. THE BOOK IS NOT ALL ABOUT EXPOSING SECRETS. It is about the life of the girls she follows, and incorporated into that some explinations of sorority related things (chapter meetings, exec, hazing - YES SORORITIES DO HAZE, etc.).

I would love to give my rare positive opinion on the book, but I am not. I would only speak it from my individual prespective. But as in my sig, I am represented as a DG from USM on this board, and I will not talk about weaknesses within my chapter.