Freemasons: How Freemasons Shaped the Modern World
19.99 €
In stock
Freemasons: How Freemasons Shaped the Modern World
19.99 €
The history of Freemasonry is inextricably linked to many notable figures, including Winston Churchill and Walt Disney, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Shaquille O'Neal, Benjamin Franklin and Buzz Aldrin, Giuseppe Garibaldi and Arthur Conan Doyle, Henry Ford and Cecil Rhodes, Rudyard Kipling and Buffalo Bill. Founded in London in 1717 as an association around character-building ideals, Freemasonry spread around the world in two decades. Under George Washington, it created the worldview of the American nation; Masonic networks held the British Empire together; under Napoleon, Masonic lodges became an instrument of authoritarianism and then a cover for revolutionary conspiracy. Masonry owes its origin to the Mormon Church and the Sicilian Mafia. Today there are 400,000 Freemasons in the UK, over a million in the USA and around six million worldwide. Professor John Dickie's book is a fascinating study of a movement that not only participated in the shaping of modern society, but still wields considerable influence. "In conceiving this book, I wanted to reflect the diversity of human experience of Freemasonry, which is not to be found either in the accounts of Freemasons themselves or in what is written by their detractors and persecutors. I have tried not to reduce it to a set of peculiarities and patterns, so I have chosen to present some geographical locations and eras that were particularly significant to the history of the fraternity. The investigation ahead of us is very difficult, but also extremely interesting. Myths and misconceptions are woven into the very fabric of the history of Freemasonry and are already inseparable from it. At its very center lies the sacred action that begins at the entrance to the temple and unfolds beyond time and space." (John Dickey)
See also:
- All books by the publisher
- All books by the author
- All books in the series Secret knowledge