More About Masonry by H.L. Haywood

H.L Haywood is one of the fraternity’s most prolific writers of the 20th century. His several works have provided Freemasons with better knowledge of the fraternity, its history, philosophy and aims.
You won’t find this book on the shelves of Borders or Barnes and Noble because unlike Knight, Lomas, Robinson and others, Haywood sticks to the facts and the majority of books on Freemasonry at walk-in retail stores are coincidental history at best. In this book there is no fluff, no spectacular historical fantasies about knights, Egyptians or a long lost secret knowledge. Haywood addresses the many facets of the fraternity that go unchecked a lot of the time. From officer duties, politics, revenue/resources, structure, jurisdiction, jurisprudence and a slew of other topics essential to a Freemasons repertoire of knowledge, Haywood gives the reader a factual account of how the fraternity works, what its purpose is and the documented history of the fraternity we have today.

The one downside to this book is that it can be long winded at times in Haywood’s explanations and analogies. Also, for the Mason looking for a fast paced thrill ride of Masonic history, he will probably be put to sleep in the first few chapters. This book simply does not have any of that.

However, for the reader looking for cold hard facts, verifiable, documented, traceable and relevant, this book is a gem. The chapters are but a few pages long and he addresses each issue separately, thoroughly and intelligently. There is no question that Haywood was not only a great writer, but also a lover of Masonic knowledge.

This book is perfect for those who wish to come back to Earth and learn what Freemasonry is without all of the unnecessary theories of peripheral, unsubstantiated tales of speculation and a must have in any Freemasons library.

Review by John A. Nichols