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A. M. Pi︠a︡tigorskiĭ

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Who's Afraid of Freemasons? Hardcover – Import, January 1, 1997

by Alexander PIATGORSKY (Author), With B&W illustrations (Illustrator)

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In the eighteenth century, Freemasonry was seen to be a force of enlightenment, yet it has come to be regarded as a sinister influence in public life. This definitive study reveals more about Masonry and the way it functions than any other work.Throughout his book Alexander Piatigorsky considers the institution from the point of view of both Masons and their critics, as well as from his own. In the first section he gives an outline of Masonic history, from the foundation of the Grand Lodge in London's Covent Garden in 1717 through the extraordinary role of Masonry in Enlightenment Europe and the American Revolution to the present day. In the second part, he describes Freemasonry's rituals and symbolism, within which all Masonic religious ideas find their place. It is here that Piatigorsky's wide knowledge of the world's religions comes into its own.

Print length

380 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Harvill Press
Publication date

January 1, 1997
Dimensions

6.5 x 1.75 x 9.75 inches
ISBN-10

1860460291
ISBN-13

978-1860460296
See all details

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harvill Press; 1st ed edition (January 1, 1997)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 380 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1860460291
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1860460296
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.75 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 1.75 x 9.75 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #6,061,442 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #8,846 in Social Services & Welfare (Books)

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4.4 out of 5

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Eric W. Vogt, Ph.D., Author of The Spanish Subjunctive Up Close, Spanish Pronouns Up Close and Spanish Past Tenses Up Close

A Dense Read, but Worth the Work

Reviewed in the United States on August 13, 2009

This is a book for specialists in history, sociology, religious studies, anthropology or anyone willing and able to work to understand this opus magnum. The author is a non-Mason. He is a professor of comparative religion at the School of African and Oriental Studies, London.

Piatigorsky presents anecdotal data to examine the attitudes of insiders (an emic approach) and outsiders (an etic one) as well as what each thinks the other thinks or declares about the Craft.

He arrives at his own highly qualified, narrowly defined, disputable and controversial conclusion that Freemasonry is a form of religion - or can be for anyone on any side of this all-too-common and frankly worn out controversy. A Russian emigré, he dedicates much attention to the Craft in Russia, a feature that I found very engaging.

7 people found this helpful

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bob chapman

excellent philosophical enquiry into a religious phenomenon

Reviewed in the United States on December 4, 2003

This book deals with Freemasonry as a phenomenon, which is to say it concerns itself with freemasonry's role as an object of conciousness, as the starting point for an enquiry into not whether it is a religion or not, but into how popular/public (including freemasons')conceptions of freemasonry and by extension 'religion' may be formed. The author's findings suggest that any thinking on religion acquires, or rather is analogous to, religiousness itself, in so far as 'religiousness' as an idea, as an object of conciousness, that is as a 'concept', has, by its very conceivability, acquired an ontological status already equivalent to the initial 'epistemological' premise.

6 people found this helpful

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Cwn_Annwn

There are better books on the subject

Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2009

Judging by the title I thought this was going to be a book trying to debunk the conspiratorial viewpoint many have about Freemasonry. Its actually a mix of mainstream Masonic history and blue lodge level Masonic "secret" rituals, symbology and oaths with the authors spin and opinions on them. Overall most of this book is boring but you get some decent history and some of their so called "secrets" but there is nothing in this that hasn't been presented better in other books.

4 people found this helpful

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Philip H. Gardner

HORRIBLE!!!!!

Reviewed in the United States on December 28, 2007

Without doubt this is the worst book I have ever read on any subject. It actually hurt to read the entire thing. I've been a Freemason for 17 years and I've never read anything so confusing and nonsensical in my Masonic life. The author's title makes the reader believe that perhaps the author will be attempting to answer the title question, but in fact, that question is never even addressed. So much time is spent trying to explain the author's theory on religion and make the author look good, that no space is left for the him to address his title question, and thus the work suffers greatly. The editor of this books should lose his job it is so poorly done, and Mr. Piatigorsky should be reevaluated in his professorship. I was sorely disappointed with this book and wouldn't recommend it to anyone. In fact, I would recommend people avoid it as though it had the Plague.

7 people found this helpful

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Bernhard W. Hoff

Dense and opaque, but with some interesting parts.

Reviewed in the United States on May 24, 2000

I gather from reading this book that the author has developed and previously published some theoretical or psychological model for analyzing religions. In this volume, he applies his analytical approach to the question of whether Freemasonry is a religion, which seems appropriate enough given Freemasonry's ritual and esoteric content. His explanation of his model and its jargon is even more impenetrable than the jargon itself. His discussion of his results suffers accordingly. The book becomes a bit more worthwhile in discussing why men join the fraternity (at least in England where his research was done), why they stay, who they are, what they get out of it, and what they do behind those closed doors. His unsurprising conclusion, as near as I can tell, is the same answer you would get by asking any random Freemason whether the fraternity was a religion.
(This book was originally published in hardcover under the title "Who's Afraid of Freemasons?".

13 people found this helpful

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valentina culea

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Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 22, 2020

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Very good physical quality of the book, fast delivery, good service.

Alessandro Passi

The 19th Century's most genial Russian philosopher's view of Freemasonry.

Reviewed in Italy on July 31, 2015

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Alexander Piatigorsky has written an amazing phenomenological essay on Freemasonry. Highly recommended reading with delightful observations and comments from a man of enormous intellectual clarity.

One person found this helpful

Musket129

Great addition to a Masonic Library

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 5, 2019

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An ideal addition to my Masonic library.

William Platts

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 23, 2016

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