The Craft: How The Freemasons Made The Modern World

The Craft: How The Freemasons Made The Modern World

Insiders call it the Craft. 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. Review PRAISE FOR COSA NOSTRA "Riveting" --- Sunday Telegraph "The inspiration of far too much pulpy entertainment, the Italian mobsters under John Dickie's miscroscope in Cosa Nostra have long cultivated outsiders' tendencies to romanticize their supposed honor and loyalty. But Dickie demonstrates definitively that the centuries-old mafia has never been more than an illegal business and shadow state pursuing 'power and money by cultivating the art of killing people.'" --- Washington Post "Absorbing . . . He succeeds in being both opinionated and precise and has performed a necessary work of rebranding." --- Financial Times "His is the first truly definitive English-language study of this myth-laden subject, and it is a pleasure to read...his book is notable for shrewd judgments couched in language that is vibrantly memorable. His acquaintance with the island and his immersion in the wider modern Italian culture also allow him to convey the noxious atmosphere of corruption with flair." ---Christopher Sylvester, Sunday Times (London) "A serious contribution to modern Italian history . . . it can be safely predicted that Dickie's book will be a sensation, not least because it has a dozen potential movies in it." ---Clive James, Times Literary Supplement "I couldn't put it down. His archival sleuthing is yoked to his powerful, often coruscating storytelling to create a chilling account of the mafia's sinister, horrific reality." ---John Guy, Sunday Times (London) About the Author John Dickie is Professor of Italian Studies at University College, London. His book, Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia, is an international bestseller, with over 20 translations, and won the CWA Dagger Award for non-fiction. Since then he has published Delizia! The Epic History of the Italians and their Food (2007) -- now a six-part TV series for History Channel Italia and other networks worldwide. In 2005 the President of the Italian Republic appointed him a Commendatore dell'Ordine della Stella della Solidariet