It’s a Freemason free-for-all!

Now that Dan Brown's DA VINCI CODE follow-up THE LOST SYMBOL is out today after a six-year wait, its highly guarded plot won't be under wraps much longer. All we've known about it for a while is that the Freemasons figure into it, which was all many publishers needed to rush out some nonfiction titles — some new, some not — to capitalize on the interest. Here's a rundown of a few of the more notable and readily available; the descriptions are their own. CULTS, CONSPIRACIES, AND SECRET SOCIETIES: THE STRAIGHT SCOOP ON FREEMASONS, THE ILLUMANATI, SKULL AND BONES, BLACK HELICOPTERS, THE NEW WORLD ORDER, AND MANY, MANY MORE by Arthur Goldwag — Did you know: • Freemasonry's first American lodge included a young Benjamin Franklin among its members. • The Knights Templar began as impoverished warrior monks then evolved into bankers. • Groom Lake, Dreamland, Homey Airport, Paradise Ranch, The Farm, Watertown Strip, Red Square, “The Box” are all names for Area 51. An indispensable guide, CULTS, CONSPIRACIES, AND SECRET SOCIETIES connects the dots and sets the record straight on a host of greedy gurus and murderous messiahs, crepuscular cabals and suspicious coincidences. Some topics are familiar — the Kennedy assassinations, the Bilderberg Group, the Illuminati, the People's Temple and Heaven's Gate — and some surprising, like Oulipo, a select group of intellectuals who created wild formulas for creating literary masterpieces, and the Chauffeurs, an eighteenth-century society of French home invaders, who set fire to their victims' feet. THE SECRET DESTINY OF AMERICA by Manly P. Hall — Drawing upon often neglected fragments of history, THE SECRET DESTINY OF AMERICA presents evidence for a mysterious Great Plan at the core of the nation’s founding. Preeminent occult scholar Manly P. Hall argues that humanistic, esoteric, and mystical orders collaborated in setting aside the American continent for a world-shaking experiment in enlightened self-government and religious liberty. The author locates the seeds for this plan one thousand years before the beginning of the Christian era, exploring figures such as the Pharaoh Akhnaton, Plato and Plotinus. Once hatched in the colonial age, the great experiment involved: • Christopher Columbus, who may have been an agent of esoteric order connected with Lorenzo de’ Medici and Leonardo da Vinci; • English intellectuals Bacon and Raleigh, who played unique roles in the court intrigue surrounding the settlement of the continent; • founders Washington and Franklin, who had esoteric associations; • and a network of Rosicrucians, mystics, and Freemasons whose ideals of religious freedom traveled to American soil. Whether discussing the symbolism of the Great Seal of the United States, the prophecy at George Washington’s birth, or the role of a mysterious stranger who swayed the signers of the Declaration of Independence, THE SECRET DESTINY OF AMERICA is the sole volume to link together the fascinating strands of esoteric history that lie at America’s heart. THE LOST KEYS OF FREEMASONRY by Manly P. Hall — Here is Manly P. Hall's classic work on history's most secretive brotherhood — reset and collected with two additional celebrated Hall volumes on occult Masonry. Freemasonry is the subject of perennial fascination-recently the cover story of a national newsmagazine, the premise of the movie NATIONAL TREASURE, and the anticipated basis of a forthcoming novel by Dan Brown. The twentieth century's great scholar of occult and esoteric ideas, Manly P. Hall was a Mason himself and nurtured a lifelong interest in the secret fraternal order, making it the focus of one of his earliest and best-loved books, THE LOST KEYS OF FREEMASONRY. In this celebrated work, he examines the ethical training required of a Freemason, and the character traits a Mason must "build" within himself. Hall's 1923 volume is now reset and made available exclusively in this new edition, along with the author's two further classics on Masonry: • FREEMASONRY OF THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS (1937), which explores the roots of Freemasonry in the initiatory temple rites of Pharaonic Egypt; and • MASONIC ORDERS OF FRATERNITY, a fascinating work of short history that chronicles the reemergence of Freemasonry in Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It surveys the lives of Masonry's modern architects and the secretive organizations that immediately preceded the brotherhood. This three-in-one volume features the original illustrations of each book, for a total of nearly thirty images, including recreations of scenes and rites from Masonry's unusual history. It also includes a new index encompassing all three titles. THE MASONIC MYTH: UNLOCKING THE TRUTH ABOUT THE SYMBOLS, THE SECRET RITES, AND THE HISTORY OF FREEMASONRY by Jay Kinney — THE MASONIC MYTH finally sets the record straight about the Freemasons, revealing that the truth is far more compelling than the stories. Written by Jay Kinney, a practicing Freemason, this book examines the myths of Masonry, details the inner workings of a typical Masonic lodge, and explores the impact the Freemasons have had throughout history. It also details the symbolic systems of the Craft, delves into its occultist connections, and explores whether or not it is truly a universal brotherhood. Among many other surprising facts, THE MASONIC MYTH reveals: • Far from being a united, global network, international Freemasonry is splintered by competing lodges and orders. • Freemasons did not descend from the Knights Templar. • Freemasonry is not an arm of the Illuminati.  • There was no universal Masonic stance toward the American Revolution, as Masons could be found on both sides of the conflict. • Masonic influence on the Great Seal of the United States is greatly overstated — the design by Benjamin Franklin, the only known Freemason amongst the committee members, was rejected. Buy them at Amazon.