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.
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.
About the Speakers:
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 Solidarietà Italiana. He lives in London.
Andrew Campbell is a teaching fellow in the Department of Italian at University College, London. His research focuses primarily on the life and works of the Carmelite friar Paolo Antonio Foscarini (c.1562-1616), with a particular emphasis on weather forecasting in early modern southern Italy. He has published on Foscarini, John Dee, Niccolò Machiavelli, and Renaissance alchemy. He lives in London.
