This is fascinating book, albeit a difficult read. The author is a Professor within the University of London with an interest in comparative religion. Unlike any other writer on Freemasonry, be they pro or anti, refreshingly he has no axe to grind, does not patronise Freemasonry and above all allows Freemasons through the centuries to speak for themselves. As an academic book it is at times dry and the argument is occasionally difficult to follow, but the subject is dealt with stylishly and with wit.
    The book has many positive things to say about Freemasonry and gives a good summary of the development of Freemasonry in England. Where I, not unexpectedly, depart from the author's view is in his conclusion - that Freemasonry is a form of syncretistic religion. I would certainly agree with his comments that in the early 18th century Freemasonry was, and continues to be today, an attempt to bring together men of differing religions to enable them to find out what they have in common and not allowing what divides them to come between them. I could not agree with the suggestion that it was an attempt to form a deistic or theistic religion as a counter to the established religion of the day. Too often those outside Freemasonry with a background knowledge of religions look at Freemasonry as though it were a religion, and examine its rituals and ceremonialls as though they constituted religious liturgies. One of the problems of the changing uses of language is that today ritual has become almost synonymous with religion. This is not the case. Since we have lost so many things in modern life which were very much a part of the lives of our ancestors, we forget that ritual and ceremonial were as much part of secular life as they were of religious life, and that the distinction between religious liturgy and secular rituals was recognised.
    The general reader may find this book difficult to get through. The same may apply to masonic researchers, but I would recommend that they persist. They will find much to interest, amuse and challenge them.
    John Hamill