by Alexander Piatigorsky

Often viewed with suspicion and seen by outsiders as an alien and even inherently hostile institution, freemasonry is an undoubtedly powerful presence in British, American and European life. In this thought provoking study, Professor Alexander Piatigorsky looks at freemasonry as "phenomenon": on the one hand he analysis it as an object of thought, what do masons think of masonry and themselves and what do others think; and on the other hand he examines masonry as an object in itself, the Lodges, rituals, signs, and symbols, their habits, language and speeches.

The first part of the book gives an outline of masonic history, the founding of the Grand Lodge in Covent Garden in London in 1717; masonry's inception, in Britain, as an instrument to solve the endemic tension between individual desire and public responsibility; its religious and ethical conceptions. Looking at one of the main sources of masonic history, Anderson's Constitutions (1717-1738), which documented masonic practice and the masons' mythical history back to Hiram Abiff, the first Master Mason in the reign of King Solomon, Dr. Piatigorsky is able to extract some essential truths about masonic philosophy. From enlightenment Europe, the American war of Independence to the present day, he describes its many trials, tribulations and schisms.

The second part is devoted to the rituals and symbolism within which all principal masonic religious ideas find their place. It is here that Dr. Piatigorsky's background as a professor of comparative religion comes into its own, his intellectual pursuit revealing more about masonry and its aims than any so called expose.

from the dust jacket of the book

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