Masonic Princesses, Priests, Artists, and Egyptians: A Movement Encounters its T: Volume 1, Number 2 of Ritual, Secrecy, and Civil Society (Volume 2)

This volume entertainingly illustrates that rather than speak of Freemasonry, one might more properly speak of Freemasonries. Women of the French nobility, Rosicrucians, and Italians in Italy are all part of the mix. Just as describing Protestantism without acknowledging that Christian Science and Mormonism are entirely different studies, so the variety of ideas that Freemasonry encompasses seems bewildering. Moreover, major concerns such as gender and nationalism inevitably become part of the discussion, as they indeed are in this volume. Just why such a varied lot of people in different eras became intensely involved in Masonic lodges should give the reader pause. While that is debatable, what this volume does demonstrate is that alongside the vast subjects such as the Enlightenment and mysticism there runs a particularistic line of scholarship and research that provides a pragmatic look at otherwise diffuse and hard to grasp topics. Here are people who were passionately involved in battles of ideas, sometimes at the risk of their careers or even their lives.