Freemasonry: Illustrated History of the Once Secret Order

Perhaps no other organisation has inspired such suspicion as that of the Freemasons. They have been blamed for everything from the Whitechapel murders to attempting to bring down the Vatican, but do they really deserve the condemnation that is so readily heaped upon them?
After all, they are supposed to be a brotherhood with an abiding principle of charity and equality among men. So how did they come then to be seen, in the words of Pope Leo XIII, as "shrewd and malicious men?"
Such is the aura of secrecy surrounding Freemasonry, that there is not one single satisfactory answer as to its origins. Some Masonic historians claim it can be traced back to the building of the Temple of Solomon; others assert an even older pedigree, citing Adam and Noah as the first Freemasons. Theories that it evolved from medieval guilds of itinerant stone masons are plausible, but not entirely convincing. And there is even a mysterious connection with the disappearance of the Knights Templar in the fourteenth century!
With an open and inquiring mind, Jack M. Driver traces this fascinating subject from its legendary roots to its modern status as the shadowy agency behind every popular conspiracy theory known to man, and leaves no stone unturned in his quest for the truth.