The Builders

A one-volume history by the leading Masonic historian of his day, built on documents instead of legend. It covers the medieval operative masons, the old charges, the Grand Lodges of Britain and the spread of the Craft worldwide.

Robert Freke Gould

A brief account of secret societies from the ancient world to the Templars and Rosicrucians, leading up to the operative masons and the first Grand Lodge. A good first read on how Freemasonry fits into that longer story.

Frederick Armitage

A history of Masonry that starts with the Egyptian, Greek and Mithraic mysteries and moves through the medieval guilds to the Scottish Rite and Co-Masonry. The companion volume to The Hidden Life in Freemasonry.

C. W. Leadbeater

A long study of the ancient mysteries and their link to Masonry, followed by the history of the Craft in Saxon and Norman England, the high grades and the Grand Lodge era.

John Yarker

A peer-reviewed history of the women who joined Masonic lodges in France over two centuries. It shows how adoption lodges and mixed orders gave women a place in public life.

James Smith Allen