The Dark Side of Freemasonry [Paperback]

Ed Decker (Editor)

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Vital Issues Pr (September 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1563840618
• ISBN-13: 978-1563840616
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,103,297 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Seems to spur many to rush their reviews of it., May 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Dark Side of Freemasonry (Paperback)

Judging from the relatively high incidence of misspelled words, grammatically flawed sentences, and expressions of anger in earlier readers' reviews shown here, this book must provoke strong emotions in many who read it.

I felt disappointment.

I just wish it could have provided firm historical evidence relating to the question of whether (and if so, where, how, doing what, and with what organizational roots) Freemasonry existed prior to the early 1700s. I recognize that is a lot to ask when the subject of investigation sports a secretive history. Still, it seems to be a question sadly neglected by professional historians and left for those with an axe to grind one way or the other to write about.

If another reader knows of a book that has focused on objectively investigating the history of Freemasonry in England during the 1600s, I would be grateful if he or she would mention its author and title in a review of this book.

Thanks in advance.

15 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars MASONIC REPLY TO "A READER" OF 22 MAY, July 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Dark Side of Freemasonry (Paperback)

If you are looking for solid history, get a copy of David Stevenson's The Origins of Freemasonry : Scotland's Century, 1590-1710 (CUP, 1990). You will find what you are after between its covers. There are plenty more such scholarly books, so don't be dismayed by the sheer idoicy of the Fundamentalists or the low-brow replies of the Masons. Being a Mason myself, I must admit that the Fraternity can be its own worst enemy by not being forthcoming about material that is neither a "secret" nor a threat. In fact, there are a handful of books available from Amazon that really throw open the doors to all the so-called "secrets."

When a reasonably intelligent person, without an ideoligocal or theological axe to grind, sees this material with a clear head, the "threat" of the Fraternity dissolves and it can be seen for what it really is: a beneficent brotherhood teaching abstract lessons about characterological improvement, social decency, and the pursuit of virtue all undergirded by a powerful (but quiet) philanthropic apparatus. The wholly speculative "archeology" of Freemasonry is nowhere near as important as the hundreds upon thousands of children and adults who receive treatment from Masonic-sponsored charities ... gratis. And as a Mason with a few dozen degrees under my belt, I can say definitively that the Fundamentalist attack is wholly groundless: there is nothing in the rituals that even remotely approaches their preposterous and irrational fears.

Those who wish to attack Masonry ought to do their homework a little better, or get a brain transplant -- because there is no conspiracy!

17 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An accurate recount of Masonry, January 10, 1998

By 

Ralph Brandt "brandre" (York, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Dark Side of Freemasonry (Paperback)

This is by far the best book on Masonry that has been written. As one who spent time in the craft and left bcause it was weighed in the balances and found wanting, I know the rituals, the teachings and the dogmas of this Godless cult. Decker lays them out in detail. I find no errors in his writings, no excesses and no overstatements.