Long before Dan Brown's religious history makeover brought Christian mysteries back to the public attention, albeit for really all the wrong reasons, the was one area that had long drawn much attention from the conspiracy theorists. Unlike similar seemingly philanthropic organisation, Freemasonry has been a subject that has always attracted more than its fair share of strange theories. Due to its antiquity and the relative secrecy many authors over hundreds of years have speculated on the inner workings and core directive of this fraternal organisation. In the past theories have linked the Freemasons to the Knights Templars, the Mafia, the Illuminati and even space-lizards and aliens, such is the scope for anyone wishing to cash in on the subject and sell a few books. The subtitle of Gardner's book "The lost secret of the freemasons revealed" seems to suggest that this book is going down the same road of half-baked theories and unproven sensationalism, thankfully as soon as you begin to read this 400-page tome, you realise that this is not the case.
With the history of Freemasonry being such a fertile garden for sowing seeds of doubt and mystery, intrigue and lies, what has long been overlooked is a factual examination of the starting point of the organisation. Putting aside all the mysterious and tenuous links to secret religious cults and political powers, what Gardner has attempted here is a purely historical re-evaluation of the birth of the organisation. No best guesses, no educated leaps of faith, just a look at the documented evidence to build up his own version of events.
Although the imagery and language that surrounds the rituals and writings of Freemasonry are very obviously Old Testament in flavour, Gardner doesn't fall for the oldest trick of searching for the roots of the organisation there. It would be all to easy to explore the vague connections with Solomon and Hiram Abif in their own era, but as we see from Gardner's book these connections are very much added on after the event and mythology created at a much later date. So if there is no real historical thread linking Freemasonry to its apparent birthplace, where does it begin? By examining the fraternal writings of the organisation Gardner shows us that Freemasonry really evolves from the Royal Society, a scientific brotherhood that took shape under the last of the Stuart kings and flourished under the House of Hanover and its Georgian monarchs.
There is still a hint of mystery however. Although the organisation really takes shape under its Georgian rebirth, there are some older threads that seem to lead back to the earlier Jacobite movement. As these wisps of history are difficult to grasp and pin down they don't take up too much of the books concern. Where the avenue of facts gives way to a path of intrigue, Gardner reins himself in and allows others to explore that ground. Back in the factual world "The Shadow of Solomon" manages to uncover the hard facts behind his subject matter. Half based in scientific research and half based in the Tory-Whig, Hanoverian-Jacobite political struggles of the day, Freemasonry's secrets prove to be at once both more mundane and still more complex than anything hinted at by those writers peddling the ancient mystery theory. There are also many well-known names present at the birth of this august body. Wren, Newton, Hooke, Boyle and Franklin all have a large part to play in the shaping of the fraternity and that's not a bad cast list.
Whilst the political religious machinations of seventeenth and eighteenth might be a bit of a dry subject for such a big book, there is actually more on offer here. Whilst Gardner does, as I said before, limit his look at Freemasonry's origins to the written documentation, he does visit some earlier eras to help create an understanding of the foundation stones and fundamental ideas. The medieval architecture of the great cathedrals of Europe and their builders are examined to gain an understanding of the whole fraternal nature of the guildsmen and patrons of these great undertakings. The biblical origins of the Masonic icons, such as the twin pillars, the Temple of Solomon and even Rosslyn Chapel are examined but again Gardner manages to consider only their bearing on the subject matter from a symbolic point of view rather than being sucked into the whole conspiracy theory genre and again he succeeds in delivering a factual version of the story and remains totally credible.
All in all, Gardner takes a sensible approach to a subject long plagued by con men and lunatics, but having read his other books, which cover a wide range of historical and religious topics, that does seem to be his hallmark. If you are looking for an author that resets the balance, put off tilt by Von Danikien and his mimics and find that religious and historical subjects are your area then Gardner is your man. More specifically if you are fed up with the mountain of books that are distorting the historical record with sensational claims and downright untruths, then this book will really cut to the truth of the matter. If you have never read anything in this subject area then this is a good and level headed starting point and if you have read too much then this will be a balanced and refreshing return to the facts. It may not seem to be a subject area that appeals to the masses but if you read only one book on freemasonry then this should be the one.