An interesting account of Freemasonry from an 'outsiders' view. He noted that many 'outsiders' would not publish works on the subject for fear of offending or causing resentment among the Freemasons. Despite this, Knight gives insight into the origins and fundamental points of Freemasonry and the process of recruitment and initiation into the explored. He also examines the power and influence in politics and the religious beliefs. Index I of this study includes Information For Candidates (from The Universal Book of Craft Masonry) with suggested readings and Masonic periodicals. Purporting to expose the 'evils' of Masonry primarily in the United Kingdom, this book (written in the early 1980s and, as the author states, in a very short time) seeks to further incite the public as a follow-up to his prior work which claimed that Jack the Ripper was a Mason!

Mr. Knight weaves a tale from his imagination using any 'unnamed sources' whom he claims were at the highest levels of Freemasonry. One such example is a "West End Mason". Ironically, that person - whom, like all of his sources, Knight claims needed anonymity, has identified himself online as being James Todd who publishes an online rant aptly called "VOMIT" ('Victims of Masonic Ill-Treatment'). Todd, curiously, was never an English Mason but rather joined in Scotland and was a member there for a short period. He claims that he was forced to join the organization and, clearly, hated it. Suffice it to say, no one is forced to join Freemasonry (particularly in Scotland) and Todd's attitudes and age (not to mention his abiding hatred for politicians and police) are hardly conducive to an honest presentation. You can read all about Mr. Todd's anti-Masonic and anti-Semitic rants right here. Using sources such as this to support his work puts Mr. Knight on a very shaky foundation indeed.

From the Southern Baptist Convention's Study on Freemasonry we learn that Knight rejected the Christian faith, became a Sannyasin (a religious belief we've found precious little about), and changed his name to Swami Puja Deval in 1983. He died of a (proven) brain tumor in 1985 but anti-Masons enjoy hinting that he was somehow murdered to silence him. (The claim of Masonic actions against those who speak against Freemasonry is easily disproven by the continued lives of other anti-Masonic authors - as well as the death of Masonic authors and historians!)

Even today, UK politicians looking for a 'hook' on which to garner favor will use this book as their crutch. Imagined and/or phony characters painted to look their worst so the author could sell yet another book and appeal to people's fears, this one succeeded and now is the false basis for many anti-Masonic rants.

Interesting conclusions on Sauniere Symposium. Some great new facts about Rennes-Le-Chateau mystery. Good for those already initiated on the subjet

I read this book and found Knight's work excellent and shortly corresponded with him about this case before his death. He was preparing a following up book with additional research into this theory and it is a sad loss of an excellent writer as well as loss to the body of the Ripper works. One really needs to read his other book The Brotherhood, the Secrets of the World of Freemasonry, to get a full view of where it was moving with this study of the Ripper. Both books really work together, so to get full appreciation, you need to read both works and know the battle Knight had in having them published due to pressure from Masonic corners.
He puts forth a clear vision of what could be the real solution to the Ripper case, and if anyone doubts this sort of cover up - just look at the Watergate case or the Iran Contra Affair of the US. It is hard for people of today to understand the implications Annie Crook could have had at that period in time, so you must read both works to fully understand knights theory - based with extensive research.

"Jack the Ripper; the final solution" is a whole new approach to why and who 'Jack the Ripper' or 'Rippers' was. Thorough research on behalf of Stephen Knight has resulted in a convincing and, as far as I can tell, true tale. It is one of a painter, Walter Sickert, and what he has to say will smash any questions and disbeliefs from your mind! At the time of publication, S.Knight was way ahead of his time, gaining access to confidential Scotland Yard files...9 years before they were due to be opened. He also had access to private home files, eye witness accounts and evidence supressed from court by none other than leading police officers at the time! If you want a completely different view on the Jack the Ripper case...this is by far the most INTERESTING and CONVINCING book I have read!

This book was published in 1976 so it's hardly a new look at the subject. However, it's definitely an engrossing and convincing read, offering very good reasons why the Ripper was never caught. I remember writing to Stephen Knight at least twice about his book. Yes, he did reply.
One can only be glad that photography wasn't all that good in Victorian days. The photo of the mutilated remains of Marie Kelly is bad enough in black and white. In colour it would definitely have sent me running for the bathroom. As for my nightmares, they would most likely have been ten times as bad. My copy is in very good condition but is it really worth the prices being asked for second-hand editions on amazon.com?

The strength of this volume is that it is a good compilation of essays that focus in on scholarship on Robin Hood. There are treatments of Robin Hood in relation to literary criticism, history, media, and a range of topics. I found the section on history to be the most interesting. Some of the essays provide model studies for investigating intriguing issues that relate to the development of ballads and stories about Robin Hood, and there is a great deal of scholarship for investigating historical kernels associated with the stories. The section on media includes a few strong essays -- I enjoyed the treatment of Robin Hood on screen from the earliest movies into contemporary cartoons and even satires. But some of the essays and in fact entire sections are really weak. I thought that by far the least interesting (and the poorest written) essays were in the area that focused on literary criticism. This facet of scholarship surprised me because I thought that literary critics would know how to write due to the nature of their study.

Okay, this book isn't for people beginning to study the Robin Hood legend. For that, I'd recommend Stephen Knight's Robin Hood: A Complete Study, J.C. Holt's Robin Hood and R.B. Dobson and J. Taylor's Rymes of Robin Hood.

But for those of you somewhat familiar with the history and development of the outlaw legend, this book makes great reading. It collects a variety of articles and chapters from over two centuries of Robin Hood scholarship. Detailed discussions on the earliest ballads, historical outlaws, mythic themes, Renaissance plays, and modern movies (in particular, Flynn's Adventures of Robin Hood and Men in Tights).

Many of these articles are classics in the field of Robin Hood scholarship. For example, Joseph Hunter's 19th century examination of a real-life man named Robin Hood from the court of Edward II. Or the 1950s-1960s debate between Rodney Hilton and J.C. Holt on the audiences of the early ballads. Their debate triggered much of the modern academic writing on Robin Hood.

If you've heard of (but never read) those articles before, then this book is definitely for you.

I was very disappointed with this book. I, too, noticed that Cai's green eyes had made a sudden shift to blue, but since his eyes are only mentioned once, this is easy to miss. At one point in the book, Lawhead states that Arthur's warriors "plight their troth" to Arthur. Well, Lawhead should look this up in the dictionary--the way he used it is very confusing, because to "plight one's troth" has the primary meaning of getting engaged to someone in order to marry them. Not until I got to the third meaning in my dictionary did it state "to swear an oath of allegiance". Gwenhyvar never had a chance, I guess--Arthur had married his generals. :)

The legend that concerns Twrch Trwyth is actually the story of Culhwch and Olwen. Culhwch wants to marry Olwen, but before he can do so, he must fulfill a series of quests put upon him by Olwen's father. One is to kill the boar Twrch Trwyth (whose name I was unable to find a meaning for) and get the comb and razor from between the great boar's ears. This boar just so happens to be a king who ticked off God and, Quite literally, was turned into a boar, and all of his household and followers were turned into piglets. Arthur is not the main character in this story, he has sort of been just stuck in, because all he really does is assist Culhwch in his various tasks (along with another character, Mabon, who happens to be a Celtic god). The chase of the hunt for Twrch Trwyth starts in Ireland, but ends up in South Wales and Cornwall--not Scotland. Arthur does not get so severely injured that he needs to be healed with the Grail, either--in fact, this tale is an oddity in the Arthurian mythos because it has absolutely nothing to do with the Grail, or any of the other stories in the Arthurian legend.

Lawhead also employs a very odd narrative technique here, one that ended up irritating rather than helping. In the middle of the battle, Merlin suddenly goes racing off, and of course the reader is forced to follow him because he's the narrator. This was very annoying, because then the reader is left wondering what is happening with the battle while Merlin goes off investigating the plague. It would have been far better to have someone else narrating this part of the book, like Bedwyr or Cai, so that Merlin's racing off doesn't produce such a weird break in the action, and when he came back he could tell them all about the plague. Even though Merlin does eventually return, and finds out nothing has happened since he was gone (?!), this has still got to be one of the worst ways to write a book.

Oddly enough, the plague is supposed to be this big huge menace, but it gets very short shrift in this book. I suppose the reason for this is that the plague problem will be dealt with in Grail.

Gwenhyvar--well, we get more background on her, but still no explanation of why she's got a Welsh name and she's Irish. In the original Arthurian myths, she is Welsh, so the name makes sense there, but not in Lawhead's book.

I am still completely mystified as to why Charis is called The Lady of the Lake. At least we get to see now the connection between Avallach and the Grail, and that "The Fisher King" is not just a title, but that he really does have a connection to the Grail like the Arthurian Fisher King did.

Llenlleawg--it should have been pointed out earlier that he was supposed to be Lancelot. All through Arthur I thought Lot was Lancelot, because Lancelot is the only knight who falls out of Arthur's favor. While it was briefly mentioned in this book, it still should have been done earlier.

Also, after swearing off fighting because of the loss of Ganieda, why does Merlin pick up a sword again? In Merlin he is committed to helping the Summer Kingdom come to fruitition, but not through fighting! Suddenly he picks up a sword again, forgetting all about his lost love and his unborn child that was killed, and goes off fighting again! His vision is restored fairly quickly after he lost it--how is it that Aneirin, the narrator in the last section of Arthur, still thought he was blind? This section picks up many years after Pendragon--something like 5-10 at least, maybe even more than that.

There are a lot of mistakes and inconsistencies in this book. I really dislike this kind of sloppy writing, and "rewriting because I feel like it" is not a good enough reason to me to be severely altering the Arthurian stories, which are good enough in their own right.

After the first three books, I expected much more from Pendragon. The first three told an enchanting story through several generations. This one, as near as I can tell, takes place between sections 2 and 3 of "Arthur." The main battle seems to be the same as the final battle in book three; did Arthur go through the same thing twice with two different enemies? The ending (with Arthur being taken away to be healed) is almost the same as in the previous book, and since it takes place before the ending of "Arthur" we are no closer to having that book's ending explained. I'm hoping "Grail" clears a few of these things up, otherwise Lawhead would have done much better leaving it off as a trilogy.

Fans of the first three volumes of Lawhead's "Pendragon Cycle" need to be forewarned about two things before they commence this fourth volume of the series.

Firstly, "Pendragon" is not a continuation of the story that ended in volume 3. "Taliesin", "Merlin" and "Arthur" complete Lawhead's retelling of the Arthurian legends, and form a complete and independent story in themselves. In "Pendragon", Lawhead expands on a part of the story about king Arthur that he has already described by recounting one of the struggles that the king Arthur faced in the early days of his kingship.

Secondly, "Pendragon" does not match the high standards of the three volumes that preceded it. Readers familiar with the first three volumes will find that Lawhead recounts much of Arthur's life that they are already familiar with. In fact, the description of Arthur's king-making is nearly identical word for word to the description of this same event found in "Arthur", the only difference being that "Pendragon" recounts the event from the perspective of Merlin. But the initial drama and sense of passion and glory is gone, because we have been here before. Even though events such as Arthur's youth are described in more detail here than in "Arthur", the fact remains that we already know the basic plot, and this detracts from the amount of enjoyment you can expect.

Yet with this warning in mind, "Pendragon" is still a worthwhile read. Lawhead focuses on one aspect of Arthur's reign, namely his conflict against the barbarian Vandals and against a pestilent plague. Don't be confused: this is not an enemy described in "Arthur", hence its ascription as "The Forgotten War" (Chronologically both "Pendragon" - aside from the first part - and "Grail" both fit between books 2 & 3 of "Arthur")

In this great conflict, the human element strongly comes into the foreground, especially the twin roles of the bard Merlin, and the king Arthur. The first point of view heightens the readers understanding of Merlin's role in this conflict. Lawhead's treatment of Merlin is profound, and particularly outstanding in my mind is one passage where Merlin comes to realize that "in order to welcome redemption, one must first embrace the utter hopelessness of failure. For how can a man look for rescue unless he knows he is truly lost?" (p.69) - a wonderful metaphor of salvation for lost sinners. Equally outstanding is Merlin's journey to the other-world, where Lawhead uses a profound sequence of events to bring Merlin to understand his role in the great conflict over against evil.

Also profound is Lawhead's treatment of Arthur. The last third of the book in my view is a climactic masterpiece, and after being entranced by the last section of the novel, Lawhead's weaknesses in the first half of the book were quickly forgiven and forgotten. Arthur's role in the struggle against the enemies of the people is central: as leader and king he must fight on behalf of his people. In an absolutely unforgettable climax, the whole weight of his people's hopes depend on him, as Arthur himself must single-handedly take on the leader of the barbarians in a battle to the death. The imagery will not be lost on you, as Arthur makes a distinctly Messianic figure, bruised for his people, a Christ-like king giving his everything for his people at the risk of his own life.

Yes, "Pendragon" has weaknesses. Does this make "Pendragon" a failure? If you were not forewarned, you would likely be disappointed. Even if you are forewarned, you may still be disappointed with the first half of the book because it lacks Lawhead's typical depth and drama. But in the last half of the book Lawhead more than redeems himself with a captivating narrative that you won't be able to put down, and will in the end leave you breathless at its sparkling imagery and depth, and eagerly grabbing the next volume in the series.

Stephen Lawhead is one of my favortie writers. His first three books in the Pendragon series left me with tears of joy and craving more. In Grail, his fifth book in the cycle, Lawhead again dips into the Arthurian world and explores the holy grail, the cornerstone of Arthur's "Realm of Summer." The first third of the book catches you up to speed with the characters, the middle third explores the current conflict, and then the last third is all action. Yet the action and set-up feel extremely forced and contrived, leaving me thinking that this had to be some sort of contractual obligation with Avon. When the book finally starts moving, it unfortunately relies on cliches--the evil witch who kidnaps the queen and leads the rescue party into a huge, dark woodland where the characters get seperated and lost. Although the ending is unique to Lawhead, the first three-quarters of the book are listless, cliched, and previously explored in earlier books. Lawhead is one of my all-time favorite writers, and I'm very sorry to not recommend this book.

SRL always delivers a great read, but this book didn't reach the same level of excellence as the first three in this series. I'd have to compare this to the fourth book, Pendragon. Both are good stories, but seem to be dragging the story of Arthur out. In the third book he concludes the story. The fourth and fifth then go back and tell us more about the life of Arthur. If you've read the first three books you should read this one also, but I would not recommend starting here. Like always SRL does an excellent job of taking the legend (in this case the Holy Grail) and presenting it in a more realistic light then many other fantasy novelists who make up extremely unrealistic fantasies. Once I finally got involved in the series I enjoyed it. For a really good read I'd recommend Byzantium or the Song of Albion trilogy.

Lawhead's Done It Again!

It is truly the mark of a good author when a relatively long book series retains all of it's brilliance and originality to the very end. Lawhead has accomplished this and more with his wondrous Pendragon Cycle.

Grail is the 5th and final installment in the series (unless you include Avalon in the list). While I think that this is the weakest book of the series, it is still superb and certainly worth the read. The atmosphere of the book is very unique. Unlike the previous books in the series, the enemy is largely supernatural - a much more frightening enemy than the Picti, Angli, or Vandali. Morgian is definetely at her worst - and she even gets a few opportunities to narrate the story (a very peculiar twist.)!

Really my only complaint about the book regards Lawhead's choice of characters. It seems that many of the major characters that were seen in Arthur and Pendragon have faded to the backdrop - replaced by relatively new characters. These characters are fine, but I would have rather seen more of characters like Bedwyr, Cai and Arthur.

This is a "popular" account and not very profound. Clearly the Templars were not guilty, but the forced confessions may have misled the Church authorities. It is a sad story. In fact its recounting of the Crusades added little to my knowledge, but the couple chapters on Philip the Fair's destruction of the order were informative, as was the information on the structure of the order.

"Knights Templar" is a good introduction to the Templar military religious order. However, I don't believe it represents any new scholarship on the subject.

Howarth's prose is clear and concise. The book adopts a strict chronological order.

Unfortunatly, the book lacks proper maps to support the narrative. Place names and scaled maps for the medieval Levant and Europe are sorely needed. The strategy of the Order's Holy Land garrissons is impossible to understand without them. In addition, in many sections the Order are mere "spear carriers" to more famous historical figures (Richard the Lion Hearted and Philip I of France to name two).

The book is a good introduction to the Order. It is very readable. However, a more quantitative analysis of the Order's finances, logistics, population, and strategy for defense of the Holy Land would have been appreciated.

This was the first book I have read about the Templars, and did not know much about their history before I read this book (except the usual mythos that follows their name). I found the book interesting, easy to read, and it has sparked my interest to read more about the knights and the political and military aspects of the times. Without having other resources to compare it to, it still seemed like the author tried to give an objective interpretation of what really occurred in those times.

Rarely do I begrudge the money spent on a book but this attempt at a new theory for the origins of the Templars is sorely lacking in content. Without any footnotes and no index or bibliography I found trying to accept the authors' theories was a hard pill to swallow. This book deserves only two stars for the interesting ideas that are proposed - certainly not for the amateurish way in which they are presented. The many typo errors only add to the uncomfortable feeling that this entire effort was concocted in someone's garage and thrown out to the public at an outrageously high price.

This book was a real struggle to read. The authors thank their editor for helping to combine the writing of a Canadian and an Englishman, but as an American, I kept tripping over the excessive use of commas. Coupled with numerous typos, it was very hard to complete this book. While the authors disagree with Baigent and Leigh, I will credit the latter with providing footnotes, a more complete bibliography, and an index, all of which are missing from this book. This leaves me without much to pursue further. The real disappointment is the realization that this book is really only a part 1 of a story and all of the promises made to reveal things are left to the next book. I gave it the second star only because there actually are some original ideas presented here. Too bad the only way to continue to research their ideas is to take them on faith or wait for their next book. I hope they change editors before then and give us the benefit of some real references.

Indeed, this is a good book. But to get even more out of it, read The Illuminati Manifesto.
The Illuminati Manifesto makes public the secret of the Craft for the first time ever!

While considering what is alleged in this book, consider the some of histories greatest thinkers and documents who have contributed to making this country great. And to those living abroad, consider your own histories; for if you enjoy any of the freedoms mentioned in Article 1 of the Bill of Rights, of the Constitution of the United States of America, it's probably because Freemasons put them there for everyone's benefit, including your own.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

Such are the thoughts and words of great men, who in addition to being among the first Americans, also included a a number of Freemasons. Freemasonry enshrines many principles, including those you see above, in symbols, words, and deeds. And isn't nteresting to find many historical documents that form the foundation of our great country, imbued with the thought and attitudes common among Freemasons?

It is therefore not surprising to find Freemasons struggling as private individual citizens to offer heretical and revolutionary ideas to the world, such as that the individual rights of man are not just on equal footing with the divine right of kings but over them and beyond them. Some of you may not know this, but 250 years ago, or so, actually believing that men should be free and not chattle of a monarch, or of a state, or of a governing religious figure, was considered "out there", and grounds for arrest or execution.

Is it any surprise then, to find Freemasons struggling in their private lives as citizens to guarantee religious freedom in this country, during it's founding, and in most countries throughout the world. Freemasons helped make it possible for you not to be compelled or forced to worship as the state or a monarch would require you to do. Why? Because Freemasonry, leading by example, has practiced religious tolerance for as long as anyone can remember in it's lodges.

Consider the following words from the Declaration of Independence:

'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.' --

These words came from the pen of Thomas Jefferson, who was an American President, a statesman, and a Freemason. (Additionally, most of the founding fathers and statesmen of the time, included a number of Freemasons as well).

So here's a more appropriate expose: Before drawing any conclusions about Freemasons, please consider that your ability to do so freely, safe and secure in the home that you own, or surrounded by the property you own, with the freedom to say as you wish, and believe as you wish, with many laws in place to gaurantee them, that many of those freedoms and laws are there for you because ordinary Americans, who also happen to be Freemasons, helped make it that way. And they did so without thought of reward, or regard for their personal safety, in many cases.

A penetrating exposure of abuses of freemasonry in England which was made possible by the members of "The Brotherhood" who shared the authors concerns. This book was a catalyst for the sweeping changes in English freemasonry as the oldest Grand Lodge in the world was forced to go public to clean up its act.

To the gentlemen from Miami, Fl

How ironic that you hold these founding fathers and freemasons in high esteem. True they wrote great documents and completed great works. But, all the while as Masons and so call Christians, they had no problem enslaving African Americans and people of African decent. "All men are created Equal..."

I have been hunting around for books on Acapulco, and basically I've found that it is a weak area for the established travel authors. This book lacks the kinds of detail and "meat" that you expect in a travel book, but again, so does the competition. Perhaps it has to do with the destination? If you can accept the paucity of good information on Acapulco, then this book covers the bases. It gives enough restaurant and club names to pass muster, gives the necessary travel warnings and hints, and tells you where you need to be given your wants. You can read all of this book in 2 hours. Nice size for traveling but not such a good reference book for getting around.