Sensational tales of true-life crime, the devastation of the Irish potato famine, the upheaval of the Civil War, and the turbulent emergence of the American labor movement are connected in a captivating exploration of the roots of the Molly Maguires. A secret society of peasant assassins in Ireland that re-emerged in Pennsylvania's hard-coal region, the Mollies organized strikes, murdered mine bosses, and fought the Civil War draft. Their shadowy twelve-year duel with all powerful coal companies marked the beginning of class warfare in America. But little has been written about the origins of this struggle and the folk culture that informed everything about the Mollies.
A rare book about the birth of the secret society, The Sons of Molly Maguire delves into the lost world of peasant Ireland to uncover the astonishing links between the folk justice of the Mollies and the folk drama of the Mummers, who performed a holiday play that always ended in a mock killing. The link not only explains much about Ireland's Molly Maguires where the name came from, why the killers wore women's clothing, why they struck around holidays but also sheds new light on the Mollies' re-emergence in Pennsylvania.
The book follows the Irish to the anthracite region, which was transformed into another Ulster by ethnic, religious, political, and economic conflicts. It charts the rise there of an Irish secret society and a particularly political form of Mummery just before the Civil War, shows why Molly violence was resurrected amid wartime strikes and conscription, and explores how the cradle of the American Mollies became a bastion of later labor activism. Combining sweeping history with an intensely local focus, The Sons of Molly Maguire is the captivating story of when, where, how, and why the first of America's labor wars began.

A practical guide to the symbols and rituals of Freemasonry as a path of spiritual development and self-realization * Shares the history and meaning of Freemasonry and its symbols * Offers thoughtful explorations of different areas of Masonic experience, drawing on esoteric doctrines and paralleling them with experiences found in daily life * Provides simple exercises and practices to help internalize and personalize the lessons presented, including dreamwork, journaling, meditation, and prayer In this practical guide, Mark Stavish details the spiritual lessons and rituals of Freemasonry as a step-by-step path of spiritual development and self-improvement for both Masons and non-Masons, men and women, alike. He explores the history and meaning of Freemasonry and its symbols--from its origins in the Temple of Solomon to the Medieval craft guilds to the Renaissance--and explains how the Craft promotes personal growth through the symbolic building of self and an inner Temple of Wisdom in much the same way that Masonry's rituals symbolize the building of Solomon's Temple in accordance with the mystical architectural instructions of Hiram. Drawing on esoteric doctrines, including the Qabala, alchemy, sacred geometry, John Dee's angelic magic, and the secrets of the Gothic cathedral builders, each chapter addresses an area of the Masonic experience, paralleling them with experiences each of us finds in our own lives. The author provides simple practices to help internalize and personalize the lessons presented, including dreamwork, journaling, meditation, prayer, and understanding sacred architecture. The author also examines the crafting and use of the spiritual and symbolic tools of Freemasonry, such as the trestle or tracing board and the Chamber of Reflection. Providing the tools to make the Craft an initiatic experience of self-improvement, the author shows that, ultimately, the Masonic experience is the human quest for self-realization and self-expression, so that we each may find our place in the Temple of Wisdom.

The Muslim Brotherhood in the West remains a mysterious entity. In The Closed Circle, Lorenzo Vidino offers an unprecedented inside view into how one of the world's most influential Islamist groups operates. He marshals unique interviews with prominent former members and associates from Europe, the United Kingdom, and North America, shedding light on why and how people join and leave Western outfits of the Muslim Brotherhood. Drawing on these striking personal accounts, Vidino weaves together the experiences of individuals who participated in and later renounced Brotherhood groups. Their perspectives provide a wealth of new information about the Brotherhood's secretive inner workings and the networks that connecting the small yet highly organized cluster of Brotherhood-influenced groups. The Closed Circle examines the tactics the Brotherhood uses to recruit and retain participants as well as how and why individuals make the difficult decision to leave. Through the stories of diverse former members, Vidino paints a portrait of a highly structured, tight-knit movement. His unprecedented access and understanding of the group's activities and motivations has significant policy implications concerning Western Brotherhood organizations and also illuminates the underlying mechanisms found in a range of extremist groups.

The instant New York Times bestseller. A brilliant recasting of the turning points in world history, including the one we're living through, as a collision between old power hierarchies and new social networks. "Captivating and compelling." -The New York Times "Niall Ferguson has again written a brilliant book...In 400 pages you will have restocked your mind. Do it." -The Wall Street Journal "The Square and the Tower, in addition to being provocative history, may prove to be a bellwether work of the Internet Age." -Christian Science Monitor Most history is hierarchical: it's about emperors, presidents, prime ministers and field marshals. It's about states, armies and corporations. It's about orders from on high. Even history "from below" is often about trade unions and workers' parties. But what if that's simply because hierarchical institutions create the archives that historians rely on? What if we are missing the informal, less well documented social networks that are the true sources of power and drivers of change? The 21st century has been hailed as the Age of Networks. However, in The Square and the Tower, Niall Ferguson argues that networks have always been with us, from the structure of the brain to the food chain, from the family tree to freemasonry. Throughout history, hierarchies housed in high towers have claimed to rule, but often real power has resided in the networks in the town square below. For it is networks that tend to innovate. And it is through networks that revolutionary ideas can contagiously spread. Just because conspiracy theorists like to fantasize about such networks doesn't mean they are not real. From the cults of ancient Rome to the dynasties of the Renaissance, from the founding fathers to Facebook, The Square and the Tower tells the story of the rise, fall and rise of networks, and shows how network theory--concepts such as clustering, degrees of separation, weak ties, contagions and phase transitions--can transform our understanding of both the past and the present. Just as The Ascent of Money put Wall Street into historical perspective, so The Square and the Tower does the same for Silicon Valley. And it offers a bold prediction about which hierarchies will withstand this latest wave of network disruption--and which will be toppled.

An overview of the mysterious history of the Freemasons and their presence in American society With over four million members worldwide, and two million in the U.S., Freemasonry is the largest fraternal organization in the world. Published in conjunction with the National Heritage Museum, this extravagantly illustrated volume offers an overview of Freemasonry's origins in seventeenth-century Scotland and England before exploring its evolving role in American history, from the Revolution through the labor and civil rights movements, and into the twenty-first century. American Freemasons explores some of the causes for the rise and fall of membership in the fraternity and why it has attracted men in such large numbers for centuries. American Freemasons is the perfect introduction to understanding a society that, while shrouded in mystery, has played an integral role in the lives and communities of millions of Americans. Copublished with the National Heritage Museum.

Freemasonry was a major cultural and social phenomenon and a key element of the Enlightenment. It was to have an international influence across the globe. This primary resource collection charts a key period in the development of organized Freemasonry culminating in the formation of a single United Grand Lodge of England. The secrecy that has surrounded Freemasonry has made it difficult to access information and documents about the organization and its adherents in the past. This collection is the result of extensive archival research and transcription and highlights the most significant themes associated with Freemasonry. The documents are drawn from masonic collections, private archives and libraries worldwide. The majority of these texts have never before been republished. Documents include rituals (some written in code), funeral services, sermons, songs, certificates, an engraved list of lodges, letters, pamphlets, theatrical prologues and epilogues, and articles from newspapers and periodicals. This collection will enable researchers to identify many key masons for the first time. It will be of interest to students of Freemasonry, the Enlightenment and researchers in eighteenth-century studies.

From Egyptian history and Mayan relief work, through Greek mathematicians, philosophers and metaphysicians, Churchward traces the most basic symbols of Freemasonry to the hidden symbolism found in the signs and tools of Freemasonry today. With such knowledge, readers may find hidden meanings in all walks of life - hidden in great works of art, architecture, geometry, poetry, and especially contemporary novels that lean on Masonic mysteries as plot devices.

The history of the Freemasons has often been shrouded in mystery and suspicion. Since 1717, with the establishment of the Grand Lodge in London, the Freemasons have been a power within the nation, withstanding public disapproval and attacks, from the Catholic Church among others. Throughout the last three hundred years, the Freemasons have been influential in some of the most important turning points in world history. Jasper Ridley explores the role of the society in both the American and French Revolutions and whether Mozart's The Magic Flute was an expose of secret rituals. He reveals that Pushkin, Winston Churchill, Booker T. Washington, Clark Gable, Walter Scott, members of the royal family and at least sixteen US Presidents have all been Freemasons.

2011 Reprint of 1906 Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. Fully describes the first three degrees of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry. Pike is best known for his major work, "Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry," originally published in 1871. "Morals and Dogma' was traditionally given to the candidate upon his receipt of the 14th degree of the Scottish Rite. This practice was stopped in 1974. "Morals and Dogma" has not been given to candidates since 1974. A classic work on the subject.

Why do the powerful mediaeval Knights Templar, the famed warriors of the Crusades, still intrigue many today? A secret society long shrouded in mystery, the Templars were believed to conduct mystical rituals, to guard the Holy Grail, and to possess the priceless treasures of the Temple of Jerusalem. Did they bring their treasure to North America, as some legends say? This discussion of the Templars and their presumed hidden knowledge addresses many such questions with photographs included from the Rosslyn Chapel Museum in Scotland.

A classic and highly controversial expose of the secret world of the Freemasons reissued with a new introduction by Martin Short, author of 'Inside the Brotherhood'. The Freemasons have long fascinated outsiders. The subject of Dan Brown's new novel - set for release in 2007 - this secret and exclusive society, thought to be the largest in Britain today, remains a mystery to the many excluded from its ranks. One would never know if a father or brother was a member due to the mandatory vow of secrecy. In this classic, controversial expose, Stephen Knight talks to the men on the inside - those who have broken their vow of secrecy to reveal the darker side of the 'brotherhood'. Do they influence the law? Is the KGB involved? And is there is a secret group of Masons running the country today, perhaps influencing every move we make? Fully updated with a new introduction by Martin Short, acclaimed author of 'Inside the Brotherhood', this is the unmissable, true story of an ancient, and mysterious brotherhood operating in our midst.

The Lost Key - The Supranatural Secrets of the Freemasons contains revelations that only an initiate of the highest orders of esoteric Freemasonry is in a position to make. Here is the truth behind the hints in Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol that Freemasonry is concerned to reawaken the hidden potentialities and powers of the human mind.The thrilling narrative of this new book follows a candidate for initiation as he rises through the different grades of initiation, taking part in ceremonies that are sometimes terrifying but always revealing of new knowledge and presenting new mysteries which will only be solved when the next stage of initiation has been achieved. Dramatic episodes include the re-enacting of an ancient murder from 3,000 years ago in full gory detail, lowering the candidate on the end of a rope into a dark vault under the floor of the temple, holding a dagger to the candidates naked breast, and making the candidate attend his own funeral.In the secret teachings revealed to some high-level initiates, there is a type of instruction which seems curiously similar to religious and mystical teachings. Astrology, angels, chakras and the powers of the mind to operate independently of the body, such as in remote viewing, are all a part of Freemasonic lore.Here Lomas, co-author of the international bestseller The Hiram Key, reveals to a wider public and also explains these secret teachings for the first time. He shows that while they are dismissed as superstitious by campaigners for atheism such as Richard Dawkins, they are very much part of the strange, paradoxical world opened up by the latest thinking in quantum physics. This is why he prefers to call them 'Supranatural'.

There is scarcely an historical subject which arouses the fantasy as much as the history of the secretive Order of the Temple. Although it has been disbanded for nearly 700 years, books continue to appear about these religious knights. In these books it is claimed that the Templars uncovered the grave of Jesus, that they were the discoverers of America and the guardians of the Turin Shroud or that they found the Holy Grail. There are also critical writings about the Templars. They were supposed to be drunkards and devil worshipers. Koert ter Veen decided it was time that the truth behind the sagas and myths was studied and told. In this impressive, elaborate and richly illustrated book, he tells the factual tragic history of the Order. At the beginning of the fourteenth century, the French King Philip IV, due to shortage of money, ensured the misbegotten name of the Templars. The King wanted to possess the supposed riches of the Templars by discrediting and destroying them. The position of the monk-soldiers was weakened by their lack of success against the Islamic forces during the Crusades. The Order was destroyed, but its undeserved bad reputation lingers on. This informative and interesting book will entertain a large readership, from scholar to layman.

Freemasonry has always been a highly controversial movement. Yet in spite of the vast literature that has been produced on the subject, its origins have remained obscure. David Stevenson demonstrates that the real origins of the essentials of modern freemasonry lie in Scotland around 1600, when the system of lodges was created by Stonemasons. With rituals and secrets blending medieval mythology with a number of late Renaissance intellectual influences, a movement was created that was to spread through England, across Europe, and then around the world.

The Muslim Brotherhood in the West remains a mysterious entity. In The Closed Circle, Lorenzo Vidino offers an unprecedented inside view into how one of the world's most influential Islamist groups operates. He marshals unique interviews with prominent former members and associates from Europe, the United Kingdom, and North America, shedding light on why and how people join and leave Western outfits of the Muslim Brotherhood. Drawing on these striking personal accounts, Vidino weaves together the experiences of individuals who participated in and later renounced Brotherhood groups. Their perspectives provide a wealth of new information about the Brotherhood's secretive inner workings and the networks that connecting the small yet highly organized cluster of Brotherhood-influenced groups. The Closed Circle examines the tactics the Brotherhood uses to recruit and retain participants as well as how and why individuals make the difficult decision to leave. Through the stories of diverse former members, Vidino paints a portrait of a highly structured, tight-knit movement. His unprecedented access and understanding of the group's activities and motivations has significant policy implications concerning Western Brotherhood organizations and also illuminates the underlying mechanisms found in a range of extremist groups.