The Freemasons

A History of the World's Most Powerful Secret Society

Jasper Ridley

• Publisher: Arcade
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9781611450101
• eBook ISBN: 9781628721171
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Social History
• Index: History

What did Mozart and Bach, Oscar Wilde and Anthony Trollope, George Washington and Frederick the Great, Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt have in common? They were all Freemasons, a subject of endless fascination. To the layman, they are a mysterious brotherhood of profound if uncertain influence, a secret society purported in some popular histories to have its roots in the fabled order of the Knights Templar, or in the mysteries of the Egyptian pyramids. They evoke fears of world domination by a select few who enjoy privileged access to wealth and the levers of power. The secrecy of their rites suggests the taint of sacrilege, and their hidden loyalties are sometimes accused of undermining the workings of justice and the integrity of nations. Though not a mason himself, Jasper Ridley nonetheless refutes many of the outrageous allegations made against Freemasonry, while at the same time acknowledging the masons' shortcomings: their clannishness, misogyny, obsession with secrecy, and devotion to arcane ritual. In this much-needed reassessment, he offers a substantial work of history that sifts the truth from the myth as it traces Freemasonry from its origins to the present day.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Dedication
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• CHAPTER 1 - The Masons
• CHAPTER 2 - The Heretics
• CHAPTER 3 - The Seventeenth Century
• CHAPTER 4 - Grand Lodge
• CHAPTER 5 - The Pope’s Bull
• CHAPTER 6 - Germany and France
• CHAPTER 7 - English Grand Lodge: ‘Wilkes and Liberty!’
• CHAPTER 8 - Troubles and Scandals
• CHAPTER 9 - The American Revolution
• CHAPTER 10 - The Magic Flute
• CHAPTER 11 - The French Revolution
• CHAPTER 12 - Loyalist and Revolutionary Freemasons
• CHAPTER 13 - Napoleon
• CHAPTER 14 - The Restoration
• CHAPTER 15 - The Case of William Morgan
• CHAPTER 16 - The Lautaro Lodge
• CHAPTER 17 - The Nineteenth Century
• CHAPTER 18 - The New Assault on Freemasonry
• CHAPTER 19 - Freemasonry in the World
• CHAPTER 20 - Modern Freemasonry in Britain
• CHAPTER 21 - Modern Freemasonry in the United States
• CHAPTER 22 - Are the Freemasons a Menace?
• Notes and References
• Bibliography