Purchase through Amazon Long before Earl Warren was a famous governor of California and then an important Chief Justice of the United States, he was forging a career in Freemasonry. Starting as an officer and eventually master of a local lodge whose history is recounted in this volume, he worked his way up the stairs… Continue reading Earl Warren’s Masonic Lodge: Herbert Phillips’ Fifty Year History of Sequoia Lodge
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A Definitive Commentary on Bookplates: Edward Gordon Craig’s Nothing, or The Bookplate
Purchase through Amazon Edward Gordon Craig was an artist philosopher whose daring stage sets were many years ahead of their time and whose theories about the use of masks in theater remain startling even today. His work with bookplates is too little remembered, but the designs are a wonderful introduction to his aesthetic theories and… Continue reading A Definitive Commentary on Bookplates: Edward Gordon Craig’s Nothing, or The Bookplate
Original Cables from the Pearl Harbor Attack: David Hurlburt’s War Comes to the U.S. – Dec. 7, 1941
Purchase through Amazon The Pearl Harbor attack, which launched United States participation in World War II, has been the subject of endless speculation as to how much President Franklin Roosevelt knew in advance about Japanese intentions, about the state of readiness of American forces in Hawaii, and about the handling of raw intelligence that might… Continue reading Original Cables from the Pearl Harbor Attack: David Hurlburt’s War Comes to the U.S. – Dec. 7, 1941
The Essence of Harvard: Charles W. Eliot’s Harvard Memories
Purchase through Amazon Edited and Introduced by Paul Rich Charles W. Eliot was the longest tenured Harvard president and one of the founders of the modern American university. He became an iconic figure in American life, called upon for opinions on virtually every subject under the sun. His “five foot shelf” of books that… Continue reading The Essence of Harvard: Charles W. Eliot’s Harvard Memories
Collecting American Presidential Autographs
Purchase through Amazon Paul C. Richards, Edited and Introduced by Paul Rich The collecting of autographs of American presidents is done with a passion that is not found about similar figures in other countries. Canadian prime ministers or Finnish presidents are not the focus of hobbyists. The enthusiasm of getting a set of presidential signatures is… Continue reading Collecting American Presidential Autographs
Understanding Art
Purchase on Amazon Edited and Introduced by Daniel Gutierrez-Sandoval Hendrik Willem van Loon was a Dutch-American professor, journalist, prolific writer, and illustrator. His most famous work, “The Story of Mankind” earned him the prestigious John Newbery Medal, extended by the American Library Association for distinguished contributions to American literature for children. “How to Look at… Continue reading Understanding Art
Social Satire and the Modern Novel
Purchase through Amazon Arnold Bennett wrote thirty novels but has been somewhat neglected by modern critics. He was ahead of his time in appreciating Joyce, Lawrence, Faulkner and Hemingway. His work is characterized by social irony without bitterness, and satire without nastiness. As this novel suggests, perhaps he has more in common with E.M.… Continue reading Social Satire and the Modern Novel
Paddle Your Own Canoe
Purchase through Amazon Edited and Introduced by Wallace Boston The protagonists in Horatio Alger stories are often, if one may play on a metaphor, up a creek without a paddle. In this celebrated Alger novel, the young hero is comfortably ensconced at the Essex Classical Institute until misfortune makes his expensive education impossible. If the… Continue reading Paddle Your Own Canoe
The Idea of the Digital University
Purchase through Amazon By Frank McClusky & Melanie Winter It is widely believed that college is not what it used to be. Politicians are calling for a full-scale overhaul of higher education. The public is losing its confidence in higher education. It is argued that American higher education is in crisis. The authors, who together… Continue reading The Idea of the Digital University
The History of Photography
Purchase through Amazon Edited and Introduced by Daniel Gutierrez-Sandoval The life of George Eastman is very much a part of the history of contemporary photography. Founder of the Eastman Kodak Company, Eastman was an enthusiastic photographer himself who became instrumental in bringing photography to the mainstream. He invented the first commercial film, as well as… Continue reading The History of Photography
Treasures of London: P.H. Ditchfield’s London Survivals
Purchase through Amazon Edited and Introduced by Paul Rich Peter Ditchfield (1854-1930) was a graduate of Oriel College, Oxford, and sometime Inspector of Schools for Diocese Of Oxford. He was Rector of Barkham from 1886 until his death. A leading Freemason, he was Grand Chaplain of the Grand Lodge of England as well as of… Continue reading Treasures of London: P.H. Ditchfield’s London Survivals
L’Enfant and the Freemasons: H. Paul Caemmer’s The Life of Pierre Charles L’Enfant
Purchase through Amazon Edited and Introduced by Guillermo De Los Reyes The papers of Hans Paul Caemmerer (1922-1954) are deposited in the National Archives and include considerable correspondence concerning this book about Pierre Charles L’Enfant (1754–1825). It was Caemmerer who dispelled the belief that L’Enfant was an engineer, and found that he studied in the French… Continue reading L’Enfant and the Freemasons: H. Paul Caemmer’s The Life of Pierre Charles L’Enfant
Masonic Tombstones and Masonic Secrets: Dora C. Jett’s Minor Sketches of Major Folk
Purchase through Amazon Edited and Introduced by Paul Rich Freemasonry carries its secrets beyond death. Masonic funeral ceremonies, the placing of the apron and sprig of acacia in the coffin, and internment rites at burial are part of Craft’s rituals. The carvings on tombstones of Masonic cemeteries are a source of esoteric engravings and guide… Continue reading Masonic Tombstones and Masonic Secrets: Dora C. Jett’s Minor Sketches of Major Folk
Freemasonry in Old Buffalo: James Leroy Nixon’s History of Buffalo Consistory
Purchase through Amazon Buffalo had a reputation for being the “last city in the East” in terms of social mores, and in its heyday supported clubs and societies that had much in common with those in New York and Philadelphia. Some of these still survive, such as the Consistory of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry.… Continue reading Freemasonry in Old Buffalo: James Leroy Nixon’s History of Buffalo Consistory
James Martineau and Rebuilding Theology: J. Estlin Carpenter’s James Martineau, Theologian and Scholar
Purchase through Amazon James Martineau was for more than four decades a professor in what is now Oxford’s Harris Manchester College. His theology integrates the very personal in religious experience with the transcendent and seeks to infuse daily living with the sense of divinity. He retained a sense of awe which rationalism sometimes excludes, and… Continue reading James Martineau and Rebuilding Theology: J. Estlin Carpenter’s James Martineau, Theologian and Scholar
No Bird Lacks Feathers: William Atherton Dupuy’s Our Bird Friends and Foes
Purchase through Amazon William Atherton Dupuy managed to combine a career in public service, playing a role in the Department of the Interior, with the writing of a number of books distinguished by the care he gave to selecting artists and orchestrating an unusually close connection between the illustrations and text. His observations on bird life… Continue reading No Bird Lacks Feathers: William Atherton Dupuy’s Our Bird Friends and Foes
The Genius of Freemasonry: William B. Clarke’s Leaves From Georgia Masonry
Purchase through Amazon The reader with a curiosity about the secrets of Freemasonry is confronted with a vast and eccentric literature, much of which is highly fanciful and often completely fictional. Finding books that have their feet on the ground, so to speak, is not easy. This is one, solid and truthful, and a good starting place… Continue reading The Genius of Freemasonry: William B. Clarke’s Leaves From Georgia Masonry
Bookplates of the Kings: Christine Price’s Catalogue of Royal Bookplates
Purchase through Amazon Possibly the formal study of book plates can be dated to the work of Lord de Tabley in the 1880s. He attempted a schema of British plates, starting with the pre-Reformation period and identifying Jacobean, Queen Anne and Georgian styles. Plates as a reflection of the times have continued to multiply and,… Continue reading Bookplates of the Kings: Christine Price’s Catalogue of Royal Bookplates
Material History and Ritual Objects: George Blake Dexter’s The Lure of Amateur Collecting
Purchase through Amazon Edited and Introduced by Devin Proctor From the original 1923 front cover: “The habit of collecting is one that yields the greatest delight to its possessor, since the collector goes through the world always on the watch for the beautiful and rare. Mr. Dexter mounted the hobby as a child, and through… Continue reading Material History and Ritual Objects: George Blake Dexter’s The Lure of Amateur Collecting
Making Trouble for Muslims: A. Rawlinson’s Adventures in the Near East
Purchase through Amazon Edited and Introduced by Paul Rich Sir Alfred Rawlinson, the son of a famous Orientalist and envoy to Persia, was himself a pioneer aviator, celebrated sportsman, and important British intelligence officer. As a colonel in the British intelligence corps, he played a significant role in the Middle East. His capture, imprisonment, and… Continue reading Making Trouble for Muslims: A. Rawlinson’s Adventures in the Near East
The Man Who Killed President Garfield: George H. Herbert’s Guiteau the Assassin
Purchase through Amazon The assassination of President James Garfield has been variously blamed for the decline of the Utopian Oneida community where the murderer once lived, the reform of the American civil service by shocked legislators who noted that the motive seemed to be a legitimate denial of political patronage, and the movement for… Continue reading The Man Who Killed President Garfield: George H. Herbert’s Guiteau the Assassin
The Thomas Starr King Dispute: Acceptance and Unveiling of the Statues of Junipero Serra and Thomas Starr King
Purchase through Amazon The Reverend Thomas Starr King left the amenities of bookish and comfortable Boston, where he was lionized as a charismatic and courageous preacher, to take a struggling Unitarian pulpit in a San Francisco that in the 1850s was hardly the sophisticated city that it is today. He soon found himself involved in… Continue reading The Thomas Starr King Dispute: Acceptance and Unveiling of the Statues of Junipero Serra and Thomas Starr King
The Pope and the Freemasons: The Letter “Humanum Genus” of the Pope, Leo, XIII against Free-Masonry and the Spirit of the Age
Purchase through Amazon By Pope Leo XIII Popes have never been enthusiastic about Freemasonry. Clement XII condemned the order in 1738, as did Benedict XIV in 1751. This was followed by interdicts by Pius VII in 1821, Leo XII in 1826, Pius VIII in 1829, Gregory XVI in 1832, and Pius IX 1646. The encyclical… Continue reading The Pope and the Freemasons: The Letter “Humanum Genus” of the Pope, Leo, XIII against Free-Masonry and the Spirit of the Age
