Rick Spence

Spence was born in Taft, California, in 1951, earned a B.A. from California State University, Bakersfield, in 1973 and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1981.⁠[1]

After his doctorate he taught at the University of California, Santa Barbara, as a visiting assistant professor from 1981 to 1985.⁠[2]

From 1986 he was a professor of history at the University of Idaho.⁠[1]

At the University of Idaho he has offered special courses including Conspiracies and Secret Societies in History, History of Terrorism, and The Occult in History.⁠[2]

At the University of Idaho he received numerous teaching and faculty excellence awards.⁠[3]

In 1991 his first book, Boris Savinkov: Renegade on the Left, appeared in Boulder as No. 316 of the East European Monographs series, distributed by Columbia UniversityColumbia UniversityColumbia University, formally Columbia University in the City of New York, is a private research university in New York City and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1754 by royal charter from King George II as King's College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in New York State and the fifth oldest in the United States. It was renamed Columbia College in 1784 and adopted the university name and moved to Manhattan's Morningside Heights in 1896. It has 17 schools and four affiliated colleges, with 35,978 students enrolled in fall 2025. Legal scholar Jennifer L. Mnookin became president on July 1, 2026.Open the full entry Press, at 540 pages; it was later reviewed in the journal Slavic Review.⁠[4]

The book is a biography of Boris Savinkov, a member of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party’s Battle Organisation who later fought the Bolsheviks; reviewer Eric Lee called it comprehensive, authoritative and readable.⁠[5]

In 1992 he co-edited, with Linda Nelson, Scholar, Patriot, Mentor: Historical Essays in Honor of Dimitrije Djordjević.⁠[1]

Fascinated by the spy after watching the TV series Reilly: Ace of Spies, he went on to publish Trust No One: The Secret World of Sidney Reilly, which concludes that Reilly was probably born Salomon Rosenblum in Russian Poland in 1874.⁠[6]

In Lobster’s Summer 2003 issue, reviewer Simon Matthews praised the book’s more than 1,800 footnotes and rich bibliography but argued that some episodes unravel when cross-checked against other works, and questioned where its discussion of Jewish radicals and freemasons in the Russian Revolution was meant to lead.⁠[7]

In June 2008 Spence, then chair of the University of Idaho’s history department, published Secret Agent 666: Aleister Crowley, British Intelligence and the Occult; the book grew out of a 2000 journal article and drew on British, American, French and Italian archives. He had appeared on the History Channel and spoken at the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C.⁠[8]

The 300-page book was published by Feral House. The review site PARALIBRUM considered the author, who is not a practicing occultist, unbiased, and noted that he used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain U.S. intelligence files.⁠[9]

In 2017 Trine Day published his Wall Street and the Russian Revolution: 1905–1925, which examines the economic, ideological and personal motivations of key figures in the Russian Revolution.⁠[10]

He later discussed the book on the publisher’s podcast, along with Antony Sutton’s claims that American interests supplied weapons to the enemy during the Vietnam War.⁠[11]

In 2019 The Teaching Company released his lecture series The Real History of Secret Societies.⁠[2]

He appeared on episode 451 of the Lex FridmanLex FridmanLex Fridman is a Soviet-born, US-raised computer scientist and podcast host who works as an MIT research scientist on human-AI interaction and autonomous driving. His Lex Fridman Podcast is known for hours-long conversations with guests including heads of state and technology leaders.Open the full entry Podcast, discussing the KGB and CIA, tsarist and Soviet intelligence agencies, occultism, the Nazi Party and the Thule Society, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, Charles Manson, the Zodiac Killer and the Illuminati.⁠[12]

As of October 2026 he is professor emeritus of history at the University of Idaho; his other Great Courses series include Secrets of the Occult, The Secret World of Espionage and True Crime: Decoding the Evidence.⁠[13]

He has also appeared as a professor emeritus of history at the University of Idaho on the HISTORY series The UnXplained.⁠[14]

University of California, Santa Barbara: Official website: https://www.ucsb.edu/ (opens in a new window)⁠[13]

University of Idaho: Official website: https://www.uidaho.edu/ (opens in a new window)⁠[12]