Here Berman (history, Oxford Brookes U.) shares the story of the development of Freemasonry, and its growth from a small cult to a premier body of well-placed men who could, and did, manipulate history. Berman concentrates on the large body of English Freemasons, examining Laurence Dermott and the Ancient Grand Lodge, Ancient Freemasonry and the London Irish, the Ancients' General Register, London's magistracy and the London Irish, the decline of the English Grand Lodge from 1740 to 1751, Masonic misrule, the King's Arms Lodge, and the Anglo-Irish in ascendancy and alienation. Distributed in the US by IPG. Annotation ©2014 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)