In this book, J. Edward Cornelius recounts the history of the A.¿.A.¿. from its inception to the present, but mainly documenting a period when the Order as a whole was under direct threat of extinction from within. It began when a newly formed A.¿.A.¿. lineage of ex-Marcelo Motta students from the late-1980s under the leadership of a supposed new World Teacher came out and declared itself, by extremely odd and convoluted logic, to be the sole heirs to Aleister Crowley¿s legacy. It then demanded that all other A.¿.A.¿. lineages acknowledge their sole authority. And when other lineages quite predictably told it to get bent, it tried to strong-arm its A.¿.A.¿. rivals into submission by using the worldly might of the Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO) against them. However, it appears this A.¿.A.¿. branch never counted on their intended new subjects fighting back, and they certainly never counted on their targets, and specifically the present author, keeping such scrupulous notes and documents about the real order and character of events. In the end, this other lineage under the new, so-called World Teacher was defeated by the facts, strategically wielded by a soldier of Freedom. Despite our extremely critical stance on the events discussed, we present this book as an instructive history, not as an attack. For example, we have no problem acknowledging this other lineage¿s right exist as legitimate A.¿.A.¿. albeit not as the only legitimate branch. Unfortunately, the danger to the A.¿.A.¿. has not yet passed; these Restrictionists are still traveling around the world spreading their faulty and deceptive version of our Order¿s history to people who don¿t know any better. After all, it has been twenty years since the history of the events portrayed in this book occurred and multiple generations have come and gone since then, and naturally the new recruits in both OTO and A.'.A.'. wish to believe the best about those who run what used to be Crowley¿s A.¿.A.¿.