Secret Societies from the ancient and arcane to the modern and clandestine David V. Barrett. London (Blandford/Cassell), 1997.

I must at the outset declare an interest. I was aware of the possibility of this book appearing a number of years ago, gave its author several interviews and had lengthy correspondence with him. My initial reaction when approached about the book was “not another one!”. The bibliography of compendiums on secret societies is lengthy, and the works it lists are in the main small masterpieces of disinformation and conspiracy theory.
    This book is different. Its author has tried to be dispassionate, has no hidden agenda of his own, and has done considerable research to try and establish the facts rather than accept the long-held perceptions and inaccurate reporting of the past. Like all of us, he is human and occasionally errs. The result is a good, broad survey of organisations past and present which have intrigued us all.
    The author has some interesting comments on the phenomenology of secret societies and what he calls “the psychology of perceived exclusion”. He is fair to Freemasonry (which has the longest chapter in the book) and carefully examines the claims that have been made for and against it. Some members may be upset at his frank discussion of words that we regard as being private, but his work is not an exposure. In dealing with the word formerly used in the Royal Arch, he carefully dissects and debunks the criticisims of Walton Hannah and Stephen Knight. He asks the question, “Is there not a case for accepting what the Freemasons themselves say they intend the word...to represent?” and ends with the comment, with which I think we would all agree, “The debate over this word...appears to have been blown out of all proportion, and to have taken on a significance it never merited.”
    To those who might be put off by the author’s discussing matters which we regard as being private, I would say persevere. He has much to say about Freemasonry that is positive, and is all the more welcome because it comes from a dispassionate outsider.
    John Hamill