The Freemasonry FAQ
>
> Version 1.0
> August 2006
>
> This Frequently Asked Question comes from The Usenet Masonry FAQ, posted
weekly to alt.freemasonry every Friday at 08:00 Pacific. Please refer to the weekly FAQ for other resource and contact information.
> What movies/books feature Masonry?
>
> _The Man Who Would Be King_, by Brother Rudyard Kipling. A good story,
> later made into an excellent film, starring Michael Caine, Sean
> Connery, and Christopher Plummer. Its portrayal of Masonic history is
> quite fanciful, of course.
>
> _Murder by Decree_ A Sherlock Holmes movie, concerning the Master
> Sleuth's hunt for Jack the Ripper. It does not portray Masonry in an
> honest, accurate, or favorable light. A good movie, but it is
> important to remember that no Mason would ever knowingly commit a
> crime for a Brother. Incidentally, Edward VII was actually a Mason.
> (The story is not one of Brother Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's).
>
> _From Hell_ A movie which makes yet another attempt to link
> Freemasonry to the Jack the Ripper murders.
>
> _National Treasure_ An action movie that suggests that Masons had
> hidden a great treasure and left clues to its location in several
> places, including the back of the Declaration of Independence.
> Although there are a few inconsistencies, attributed to Hollywood's
> skill at glittering up an otherwise plain story, the movie does cast
> the Fraternity in a good light.
>
> For more Masonic movie information, please visit
> http:freemasonry.bcy.ca/fiction/cinema.html
>
> The "Turmgesellschaft" in Goethe's "Wilhelm Meister" novels is
> certainly of Masonic origin.
>
> In Tolstoy's "War and Peace", the Masonic initiation ritual of the
> character Pierre Besouchoff is described in great detail.
>
> There is also a modest body of Masonic poetry: Kipling's "The Palace"
> and "Mother Lodge", Burns's "Masonic Farewell", Goethe's "Mason
> Lodge", Leigh Hunt's "Abou Ben Adhem", Carruth's "Each in His Own
> Tongue", Burns's "On the Apron", Meredith's "Ebony Staff of Solomon",
> Bowman's "Voice of America", Malloch's "Father's Lodge" and Nesbit's
> "I Sat in Lodge with You." (Carl H. Claudy)
>
> In addition, Right Worshipful Brother Trevor W. McKeown kindly
> provided the following reading list:
>
> The Freemason at Work
> Harry Carr, revised by Frederick Smyth.
> Ian Allan Lewis Masonic Ltd. Riverdene Business Park, Molesey Road,
> Hersham Surrey KT12 4RG. ISBN: 0 85318 189 6 hc 404 pp.
>
> Symbolism in Craft Freemasonry
> Colin Dyer.
> Lewis Masonic, Ian Allen Regalia Ltd., Terminal House Shepperton
> Surrey. ISBN: 0 85318 130 6 pb 1983 [0 85318 102 0 clothbound, 1991].
> 184 pp.
>
> Workman Unashamed, The Testimony of a Christian Freemason
> Christopher Haffner.
> Lewis Masonic, Ian Allan Regalia Ltd, Terminal House Shepperton
> Surrey. ISBN: 0 85318 167 5. hc. 271 pp.
>
> Early Masonic Pamphlets
> Reprinted and edited by Douglas Knoop and G.P. Jones and Douglas
> Hamer.
> Q.C. Correspondence Circle Ltd. 60 Great Queen Street, London WC2B
> 5BA: 1978. ISBN: 0 9502001 3 1. 338 pp. [tel: 0171-405 7340,
> fax:0171-404 8131]
>
> Fundamentalism & Freemasonry, The Southern Baptist Investigation of
> the Fraternal Order
> Gary Leazer.
> M. Evans and Company, Inc. 216 East 49th Street, New York, New York
> 10017. ISBN: 0-87131-775-3 (cloth). 252 pp.
>
> Freemasonry, A Journey through Ritual and Symbol
> W. Kirk MacNulty.
> Thames and Hudson Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10110:
> Reprinted 1999. ISBN: 0-500-81037-0. pb. 96 pp.
>
> Freemasonry, The Study of a Phenomenon
> Alexander Piatigorsky.
> The Harvill Press, 2 Aztec Row, Berners Road, London N1 0PW: 1997.
> ISBN: 1 89046 265 0. pb. 398 pp.
>
> The Freemasons
> Jasper Ridley.
> Constable & Robinson Ltd, 3 The Lanchesters, 162 Fulham Palace Road,
> London W6 9ER: 1999. ISBN: 1-84119-238-4. pb 340 pp.
>
> The Origins of Freemasonry : Scotland's Century, 1590-1710
> David Stevenson.
> Paperback, Cambridge University Press: 1990