An unprecedented number of folklorists are addressing issues of class, race, gender, and sexuality in academic and public spaces in the US, raising the question: How can folklorists contribute to these contemporary political affairs? Since the nature of folkloristics transcends binaries, can it help others develop critical personal narratives? Advancing Folkloristics covers topics such as queer, feminist, and postcolonial scholarship in folkloristics. Contributors investigate how to apply folkloristic approaches in nonfolklore classrooms, how to maintain a folklorist identity without a "folklorist" job title, and how to use folkloristic knowledge to interact with others outside of the discipline. The chapters, which range from theoretical reorientations to personal experiences of folklore work, all demonstrate the kinds of work folklorists are well-suited to and promote the areas in which folkloristics is poised to expand and excel. Advancing Folkloristics presents a clear picture of folklore studies today and articulates how it must adapt in the future.

An unprecedented number of folklorists are addressing issues of class, race, gender, and sexuality in academic and public spaces in the US, raising the question: How can folklorists contribute to these contemporary political affairs? Since the nature of folkloristics transcends binaries, can it help others develop critical personal narratives? Advancing Folkloristics covers topics such as queer, feminist, and postcolonial scholarship in folkloristics. Contributors investigate how to apply folkloristic approaches in nonfolklore classrooms, how to maintain a folklorist identity without a "folklorist" job title, and how to use folkloristic knowledge to interact with others outside of the discipline. The chapters, which range from theoretical reorientations to personal experiences of folklore work, all demonstrate the kinds of work folklorists are well-suited to and promote the areas in which folkloristics is poised to expand and excel. Advancing Folkloristics presents a clear picture of folklore studies today and articulates how it must adapt in the future.

Contrary to what people think about Masonic secrecy, over the centuries a number of books have revealed much about what goes on in lodges. Certainly Jeremy Cross was relied on as a crib for nervous officers when they put on degrees, and his readers were not just the curious, but the Freemasons themselves who wanted to improve their ritual work. Important as a source for Masonic activity in the mid nineteenth century, this volume makes a scarce title available to scholars.

The antiquity of Freemasonry is much debated. As a philosophical and ritualistic society, rather than a group of stonemasons, it certainly existed in the seventeenth century. But its beginnings are intertwined with the building of the great cathedrals of Europe, so Masons speak of speculative and operative Masonry to separate the symbolic activities from the bricks and mortar of construction. This curious volume is a contribution to the lore of speculative Masonry.

This book by Gaston Lichtenstein is an antiquarian's pleasure. An antiquarian is an enthusiast for things historical, and historians sometime regard being called an antiquarian as an insult, as a slur on their scholarship. But rather than a term of abuse, the word can be a compliment, suggesting intellectual curiosity and a passion for proof. That is the case with Lichtenstein, who was eclectic in his writing career, producing work on Freemasonry, Iberian prisoners of war, Atlantic City piers, colonial North Carolina, and in the case of this book, George Washington's birthday. He was a highly readable author who loved to browse in all kinds of areas, and probably is a better companion by the fireside than many more pretentious scholars.

The anti-Masonic movement during the 1820s and 1830s is sometimes related by scholars to the development of the American party system. Certainly individuals migrated to the Know Nothing and Whig movements and eventually to the incipient Republican party, but more research is needed. No state was more influenced by anti-Masonry than Vermont, where many of the lodges closed their doors because of the hysteria about Masonic influence. So this scarce volume is welcome background to a puzzling period in political history.

The tension in Freemasonry over its legendary and real origins and with its Enlightenment ethos in contrast with Christian views is apparent in this work by an Irish Episcopalian priest who came to American in the later part of the nineteenth century and immersed himself in Masonic study. Considering the passage of years, the overview provided remains remarkably insightful.

The papers of Hans Paul Caemmerer (1922-1954) are deposited in the National Archives and include considerable correspondence concerning this book about Pierre Charles L'Enfant (1754-1825). It was Caemmerer who dispelled the belief that L'Enfant was an engineer, and found that he studied in the French Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture under his own father, an accomplished oil painter. L'Enfant's big opportunity was to fill a blank canvas, physically and ideologically, of what became the capital. L'Enfant and pace, Caemmerer's life of him, have been much cited by those who have caught a fever in terms of Washington as being of occult design. The need or desire to connect L'Enfant's original drawings for the city with Freemasonry relies on some still poorly researched history. Masonic meetings possibly took place in early Georgetown. Potomac Lodge in Georgetown has the enigmatic Bladensburg Bible that was published in Edinburgh in 1754. Stories recorded long afterwards claimed the book was used for pre Revolutionary Masonic rituals. Since Freemasonry teaches that one reason for belonging is to enable travel in foreign lands, Freemasons befriending each other in earliest Georgetown is a pleasant, but unsubstantiated conjecture.

Such was the revulsion in the United States over the purported murder of William Morgan, an upstate New Yorker who in 1826 disappeared after threatening to expose Masonic secrets, that political groups campaigned to drive Masons out of office and close down their lodges. President John Quincy Adams devoted considerable energy to the controversy, as this remarkable set of letters shows. He not only scorned Freemasonry but opposed college secret societies as well, and his feelings about secrecy continue to be of interest as in a new era we face Wikileaks and other challenges to covert activities.

The Order of DeMolay is a puzzle. It originated in the Untied States but is widespread, with chapters in Italy and Japan and Germany as well as Latin America and Canada, and with rituals involving events in medieval Paris. It is closely associated with Freemasonry but its leaders emphasize it is not some sort of junior Masonic group. President Bill Clinton was sufficiently committed to it that he interrupted a packed schedule to meet with fellow DeMolay leaders in Manila on his Philippine visit in 1995. This book was edited by the founder of the order, Frank S. Land, during the early days of the movement, and is a surprising insight into a social phenomenon.

At the end of the Cold War, a renewed interest in civil society emerged. Today, civil society, trust, democratization, social capital, and volunteerism are a primary focus among the social sciences. The end of the Cold War meant such issues in the social sciences, neglected during many years of military confrontation, came back into prominence. Voluntary groups are being given large roles, and the state is being challenged by them.

The search is on for ways to encourage democracy. Free trade and globalization are part of the equation, but much attention is being focused on the role of NGOs (non-governmental organizations). The claim is that without a healthy voluntary sector, the long-term survival of a democratic society is doubtful."

Civil Society and Democratization," a special issue of THE ANNALS, features articles written by both domestic and international scholars on this ever growing area of discussion. Articles in this issue cover these important topics: - Debates on civil society both in the United States and abroad . Civil society and political elections . Religion and civic engagement . Civil society and volunteerism

This special issue is a comprehensive discussion of how political confidence is built and eroded in a world that unimaginable only ten years ago. It is an indispensable guide to the problems of sustaining the gains made by democracy since the collapse of the Soviet Union and will be of great interest to academics and professionals concerned with processes of social change."

At the end of the Cold War, a renewed interest in civil society emerged. Today, civil society, trust, democratization, social capital, and volunteerism are a primary focus among the social sciences. The end of the Cold War meant such issues in the social sciences, neglected during many years of military confrontation, came back into prominence. Voluntary groups are being given large roles, and the state is being challenged by them.

The search is on for ways to encourage democracy. Free trade and globalization are part of the equation, but much attention is being focused on the role of NGOs (non-governmental organizations). The claim is that without a healthy voluntary sector, the long-term survival of a democratic society is doubtful."

Civil Society and Democratization," a special issue of THE ANNALS, features articles written by both domestic and international scholars on this ever growing area of discussion. Articles in this issue cover these important topics: - Debates on civil society both in the United States and abroad . Civil society and political elections . Religion and civic engagement . Civil society and volunteerism

This special issue is a comprehensive discussion of how political confidence is built and eroded in a world that unimaginable only ten years ago. It is an indispensable guide to the problems of sustaining the gains made by democracy since the collapse of the Soviet Union and will be of great interest to academics and professionals concerned with processes of social change."