The Craft

How the Freemasons Made the Modern World

By: John Dickie

Narrated by: Simon Slater

Discover the “convincingly researched and thoroughly entertaining” (The Wall Street Journal) history of the world’s oldest and most influential fraternity

Founded in London in 1717 as a way of binding men in fellowship, Freemasonry proved so addictive that within two decades it had spread across the globe. Masonic influence became pervasive. Under George Washington, the Craft became a creed for the new American nation. Masonic networks held the British empire together. Under Napoleon, the Craft became a tool of authoritarianism and then a cover for revolutionary conspiracy. Both the Mormon Church and the Sicilian mafia owe their origins to Freemasonry.

Yet the Masons were as feared as they were influential. In the eyes of the Catholic Church, Freemasonry has always been a den of devil-worshippers. For Hitler, Mussolini and Franco, the Lodges spread the diseases of pacifism, socialism and Jewish influence, so had to be crushed.

Freemasonry's story yokes together Winston Churchill and Walt Disney; Wolfgang Mozart and Shaquille O'Neal; Benjamin Franklin and Buzz Aldrin; Rudyard Kipling and 'Buffalo Bill' Cody; Duke Ellington and the Duke of Wellington.

John Dickie's The Craft is an enthralling exploration of a the world's most famous and misunderstood secret brotherhood, a movement that not only helped to forge modern society, but has substantial contemporary influence, with 400,000 members in Britain, over a million in the USA, and around six million across the world.

Critic reviews

"A fascinating tale...Mr. Dickie has turned legend into history."—The Economist

"Convincingly researched and thoroughly entertaining."—The Wall Street Journal

"The Craft is a superb book that often reads like an adventure novel. It's informative, fascinating and often very funny."—The Times (UK)

"The Craft is a shadow history of modernity. Though more sober than most lodge meetings, it is, like its subject, ingenious and frequently bizarre... The Craft is well-crafted and sensible, making good use of English archives which have only recently been opened."— Spectator

"[John Dickie] takes on this sensational subject with a wry turn of phrase and the cool judgment of a fine historian... I enjoyed this book enormously. Dickie's gaze is both wide and penetrating. He makes a persuasive case for masonry's historic importance."—Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times

“At last! A book about Freemasonry that is scholarly and balanced.”—Robert L D Cooper (Curator Emeritus of the Grand Lodge of Scotland) and Mark A. Tabbert, (33rd degree), The Masonic Authors’ Guild International

The best book about Freemasonry out there.

I read 3/4 of the book at home, and finished the last 1/4 on audio. This book has stuff for non-masons, new masons, and experienced masons alike. Been a Mason for ten years, and this was a beautifully objective perspective of our craft. Well done Dickie!

enjoyed this book very much. highly recommend

as a newly raised Master Mason, I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the history to which the world I've joined. answered a few questions that I had asked to myself along the last year. whether you're a Master Mason or not, maybe just interested in the craft, I feel that you would highly enjoy this.

Ok book

A long book about the history of the Masonry and its members, and in their historical contexts. However, from my standpoint, the book runs from too many details about figures important to the Masonry and not to historical context. At the end, it is more about the Craft biography and not about its models.

Finally, it was good to demystify an exaggerated influence of the Craft in the world.

FULL!]

FUll circle history of responsibility, society, longevity as a Historical ICON of modernsociety since....' Can't wait for more books like this with GR8 readers... don't hate, understand and move on if ya dont like it is my hope for a just speech!]🙌

Well sourced

This book appears to be well sourced and extremely interesting. Perhaps somewhat too detailed or too long.