Freemasonry and the Press in the Twentieth Century
A National Newspaper Study of England and Wales
Paul Calderwood
Website
price:
£67.50
(Regular price: £75.00)
Imprint:
Ashgate
Illustrations:
Includes 12 b&w illustrations
Published:
May 2013
Format: 234 x 156 mm
Extent: 378 pages
Binding: Hardback
Other editions: ebook PDF, ebook ePUB
ISBN: 978-1-4094-5433-5
ISBN Short: 9781409454335
BL Reference: 366.1'0941'0904
LoC Control
No: 2012039067
By the end of the twentieth century, Freemasonry had
acquired an unsavoury reputation as a secretive network of wealthy men looking
out for each others’ interests. The popular view is of an organisation that, if
not actually corrupt, is certainly viewed with deep mistrust by the press and
wider society. Yet, as this book makes clear, this view contrasts sharply with
the situation at the beginning of the century when the public’s perception of
Freemasonry in Britain was much more benevolent, with numerous establishment
figures (including monarchs, government ministers, archbishops and civic
worthies) enthusiastically recommending Freemasonry as the key to model
citizenship.
Focusing particularly on the role of the press, this book
investigates the transformation of the image of Freemasonry in Britain from
respectability to suspicion. It describes how the media projected a positive
message of the organisation for almost forty years, based on a mass of news
emanating from the organisation itself, before a change in public regard
occurred during the later twentieth-century. This change in the public mood,
the book argues, was due primarily to Masonic withdrawal from the public sphere
and a disengagement with the press.
Through an examination of the subject of Freemasonry and the
British press, a number of related social trends are addressed, including the
decline of deference, the erosion of privacy, greater competition in the media,
the emergence of more aggressive and investigative journalism, the consequences
of media isolation and the rise of professional Public Relations. The book also
illuminates the organisation’s collisions with nationalism, communism, and
state welfare provision. As such, the study is illuminating not only for
students of Freemasonry, but those with an interest in the wider social history
of modern Britain.
Contents:
Preface; Introduction; The source and treatment of news; Politics; Suspicion;
Religion; Royal endorsement; Membership; Buildings; Benevolence; Overseas news;
Conclusion; Appendices; Bibliography; Index.
About the Author: Paul Calderwood graduated in History from
the University of Leicester and subsequently spent his working life in
journalism and public relations. More recently, his work has been featured in
The Journal for Research into Freemasonry and Fraternalism, the leading
academic journal in this field.
For his paper on Freemasonry and Architecture in
Twentieth-century Britain, he was awarded the Norman B Spencer Prize by Quatuor
Coronati Lodge, the premier lodge of Masonic research, in 2010, and, in the
following year, he received the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy from Goldsmiths,
University of London for his thesis on the history of Freemasonry and the Press
in Twentieth-century Britain.
Reviews: 'All in all, an unexpected gem, which illuminates
an area of Masonic research much overlooked up until this work was published.'
Irishfreemasonry.com
'… to the serious Masonic scholar and those interested in
the wider social history of modern Britain, it [Freemasonry and the Press in
the Twentieth Century] is an absolute goldmine as a source of material.' The
Square
Inhoudsopgave:
http://www.ashgate.com/pdf/SamplePages/Freemasonry-and-the-Press-in-the-Twentieth-Century-Cont.pdf
