Builders of Empire: Freemasons and British Imperialism, 1717-1927 [Hardcover]

Jessica L. Harland-Jacobs (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0807830887 | ISBN-13: 978-0807830888 | Publication Date: April 23, 2007 | Edition: First Edition

They built some of the first communal structures on the empire's frontiers. The empire's most powerful proconsuls sought entrance into their lodges. Their public rituals drew dense crowds from Montreal to Madras.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Fascinating. . . . Supported by an amazingly rich collection of documents, impressive illustrations and diagrams. . . . The book not only tells us brilliantly the story of British imperial Freemasonry but also offers new ways to think about the global history of imperialism. . . . Provides new perspectives to our understanding the historiography of trans-national colonialism."
-Acta Orientalia Vilnensia

"Audacious and interesting. . . . Marshals an impressive array of source material, creating a sweeping view of British Masonry over more than two centuries. . . . . It is impossible to recommend this book enough. . . . Should be required reading for anyone interested in British imperialism and Masonry in particular. . . . 'Thank you' to Professor Harland-Jacobs for this important contribution to Masonic scholarship."
-International Masonic Review

"Ambitious and absorbing . . . a careful, measured accounting of the broad Imperial scope of British and Irish Masonry, based on impressively wide-ranging archival research and serious engagement with recent historiographical debates."
-Journal of Modern History

"Brings long overdue recognition to the importance of Freemasonry to the culture of the British Empire and provides a firm foundation upon which other scholars can build."
-Journal of World History

"A significant contribution to a new imperial historiography that emphasizes the networked nature of empire, as well as the burgeoning study of imperial masculinity. . . . An invaluable point of reference for many future scholars and will open the eyes of even more to the importance of Masonic networks."
-American Historical Review

"Thoroughly researched, richly illustrated, and clearly argued, this work makes a solid contribution to British and British Empire history. . . . Essential."
-CHOICE

"A useful addition both to British Empire studies and the growing field of Masonic studies."
-Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History

"Wide-ranging and penetrating."
-The International History Review

"The book's range of conceptual vision, geography, and time-span is exceptional. . . . [A] pioneering work"
-Victorian Studies

This is a significant work, richly imagined, elegantly presented, and deeply engaged with an impressive range of important issues.

Steven C. Bullock, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, author of Revolutionary Brotherhood: Freemasonry and the Transformation of the American Social Order, 1730-1840

From the Inside Flap

In this first study of the relationship between Freemasonry and British imperialism, Harland-Jacobs takes readers on a journey across two centuries and five continents, demonstrating that from the moment it left Britain's shores, Freemasonry proved central to the building and cohesion of the British Empire. As Freemasonry spread to Europe, the Americas, Asia, Australasia, and Africa, the group's claims of cosmopolitan brotherhood were put to the test. Harland-Jacobs examines the brotherhood's role in diverse colonial settings and the impact of the empire on the brotherhood; in the process, she addresses issues of globalization, supranational identities, imperial power, fraternalism, and masculinity.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press; First Edition edition (April 23, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807830887
• ISBN-13: 978-0807830888
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,022,526 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars "Thank you" Professor Harland-Jacobs, March 11, 2011

By 

Mitchell Ozog "Mitch" (MI, US) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Builders of Empire: Freemasons and British Imperialism, 1717-1927 (Hardcover)

Freemasonry's rise, its grand lodges, distinguished members, and even military connections have long been the subject of historical scrutiny. Jessica L. Harland-Jacobs, however, has accomplished something more audacious and interesting in Freemasonry and British Imperialism. She demonstrates convincingly that Masonry, despite its cosmopolitan and early revolutionary associations, ultimately worked hand-in-hand with colonial interests to shape a notion of British imperialism which, at its height, sought to transcend geography and indigenous identities. It sought to do this, Harland-Jacobs argues, by augmenting imperial splendor with Masonry's own "ornamentalism" and providing social, cultural, and practical benefits to British citizens engaged in foreign trade and colonization.

Harland-Jacobs became curious about Masonry following a lecture she attended on the United Irish Rebellion of 1798. Freemasonry, she came to realize:
...presents an excellent way to evaluate the contribution of cultural institutions to the historical process of globalization. Freemasons established one of the first global institutional networks that not only linked far flung Britons to one another but also brought Britons into contact with other European imperialists as well as indigenous men throughout the formal and informal empires. An analysis of Freemasonry makes it possible to identify various characteristics that enable institutions to function on a worldwide basis and promote globalization... We should therefore seek the history of globalization not only in the trading networks and empires of the early modern period...but also in the cultural institutions that connected men across the global landscape of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Harland-Jacobs traces the Order through its development as an Enlightenment social club, as a means of connectivity, support, and personal advancement for British Masons abroad, and, following the American, French, and failed Irish Rebellion of 1798, as an organization which aggressively affirmed its loyalty to the Crown with public demonstrations, orations, charity, and military service. "Whether living in Dublin, Montreal, or Calcutta," Harland-Jacob suggests, "a man gained a keen awareness of the empire by belonging to Masonry."

Harland-Jacobs marshals an impressive array of source material, creating a sweeping view of British Masonry over more than two centuries. Of particular interest are the relationships and conflicts between Irish, Scottish, and English Masonry as they spread through the Empire (such as the admission of former convicts into Irish lodges in Australia) and the attempt to integrate indigenous men into "British" Masonry while, at the same time, maintaining power identities of "ruling" and "subject" peoples. Harland-Jacobs concludes her history with the Empire's dissolution looming on the horizon. She quotes Indian Mason and writer K.R. Cama as reminiscing, "One of the happy results attainted by introducing natives into Masonry has been that of bringing them to closely associate, socially, with their European brethren - I was almost going to say, masters." That Masonry continues in India and other former colonies to this day, despite such conflicted feelings, is a testament to its true universalism and the gifts it offers worthy brethren.

It is impossible to recommend this book enough. Builders of Empire should be required reading for anyone interested in British imperialism and Masonry in particular. Nor could I, having read it, consider my personal Masonic library complete without it. Builders of Empire contains information on Irish Masonry, for instance, I've read nowhere else. "Thank you" Professor Harland-Jacobs for this important contribution to Masonic scholarship.

This book was reviewed by Bonisteel Masonic Library at: BML website[...] by Robert C. Blackburn,PM

6 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Builder of Masonic History, October 16, 2007

By 

Mark A. Tabbert "Hiram historian" (Alexandria, VA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Builders of Empire: Freemasons and British Imperialism, 1717-1927 (Hardcover)

This book joins the ranks of the best Masonic scholarship of the last 20+ years (Bullock, Jacob, Moore, Dumenil). I can not recommend it high enough. It demonstrates how good Masonic history can be and how Masonic history ought to be written.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Builders of Empire, November 30, 2008

By 

D. Papakostas (Greece) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Builders of Empire: Freemasons and British Imperialism, 1717-1927 (Hardcover)

Excellent analysis of the geopolitics of freemasonry during the expansion of the British Empire. Makes you wonder what the world would be like without freemasonry.