Freemasonry is a tricky topic for historians of American religion, both in terms of classification and in terms of content. Masonry confuses, in part because of the many changes within its ranks over the course of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Still, good books exist on the topic, such as Stephen Bullock’s Revolutionary Brotherhood.
David Hackett’s recently published That Religion in Which All Men Agree: Freemasonry in American Culture is a very helpful guide to those who still find Masonry mystifying. In particular, Hackett extends Bullock’s story (which ended in 1840) through the early decades of the twentieth century and pays attention to the position of African Americans, Catholics, and Jews within the fraternity.
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