Cross Books

Captivating. A great thriller. Keeps you interested and wanting more. You'll pick it up and won't put it down until you're done (which won't take you days). If you're from Michigan, you'll love reading about someone in your own backyard. In the end, you'll wonder where George will go next and want the author to write again.

Chris has created a clever plot fleshed out with interesting characterization. An easy but riviting weekend read. Mom once said, choose your friends carefully! Will want to read more of his work.

I was "hooked" after the first page of this fast-pace adventure/thriller of a young man facing some tough choices. An ordinary guy willing to risk everything. It is a smart and sassy read...but touches all our emotions. What would we do under the same circumstances? I look forward to more books by this author.

This is an excellent book for this interested in participating in foreign missionary work abroad either for a limited duration or a life time. This book is divided in two parts: why new strategies on doing missions must be implemented (it advocates doing so through business endeavors that are favorable to building national infrastructures) and examples of how these strategies have yielded results and those that have not. The book is a wealth of information on a paradigm shift for doing foreigh missions, a necessary read for all involved in such a calling.

I found this book just by searching on the title after reading a paper that a friend in India wrote on kingdom business. I have been hungry to learn what it means for me as an entrepreneur to have a Matt 6:33 'his kingdom first' mentality in running a for profit venture. I devoured this book and found it to be one of the most helpful I've seen yet, even though a primary focus of the book is more along the lines of how to advance missions more effectively.

The first section covers eleven case studies each written by a different author involved in a kingdom business. True to the title, most of these are ventures that seek to make a positive impact in Christian missions, particular in countries with restricted access. They are mostly (but not all) small companies primarily with a local presence trying to figure out how to survive in a self-sustaining way in addition to finding ways to serve people with a meaningful impact economically and spiritually. This is in juxtaposition with larger multinational, leading edge businesses or businesses with a presence only in a western country. However, I found many lessons and examples in the case studies that can benefit a Christian business person in these other environments as well.

The second part covers 9 essays on the subject of business and ministry, kingdom companies, etc. again each written by a different author. And the third section is a review or analysis of the case studies and the lessons learned. These sections were full of thought provoking nuggets for me as well. The appendices also include a fairly comprehensive bibliography of related reading material.
I came away with a stronger conviction that in all of my endeavors, business or otherwise, I should be asking "what can I do to seek first his kingdom?". In addition to a business plan I need a kingdom plan. My background and experience in business can be instrumental directly in meaningful efforts to spread good news and help people, as opposed to being only a mechanism to help fund these efforts. I've purchased a couple of extra copies for others as their interest in kingdom business topics grows.

This book (along with Eldred's, God Is At Work) is the owner's manual for every Christian who has ever wondered if there just might be something redemptive about work. There is no fluff, no wasted words, no mental lapses, no insider-theological-jargon in this book. Instead, this book is packed with superior Bible exposition (especially see Wayne Grudem's, "How Business in Itself Can Glorify God"), many realistic examples, historical precedence, completely actionable conclusions, and a one-stop-shop bibliography.


Every pastor who takes seriously his responsibility to "tend the flock" must become completely conversant with the content of this book... and then must go out an LEARN about the world of his parishioners-at-work. Every Christian --especially every investor and every owner-- who reads this book will be wonderfully encouraged or strongly convicted and then powerfully motivated to make money make an eternal difference.

As a devoted follower of The Christ and a successful entrepreneur with Fortune 100 clients and assignments in Asia, North America, and Western Europe, I urge you to redeem your time by buying, studying, and implementing this book. Vic Downing, Silicon Valley California.

This book is woooonnnnderful!! You will not be sorry you bought this book. One-of-a-kind.

This is a story told through photographs, with text providing some framework for the pictures. Dignified, moving, insightful. The photographs date back to the 1800s and focus specifically on photographs of African-Americans. Only the very last few pages of the album have contemporary photographs of adults and children.

There are formal portraits of black families in their finest attire, pictures of black intellectuals, candid pictures of black families, children, social life, families on their homesteads, in large metropolitan cities, working in fields, upper-class black people.

More photographs than I have ever seen before of past generations of African-Americans in all of their variety. Photographs are worth a thousand words; more clear and illuminating than a dry volume of essays on the African-American experience. This history is in living color.

I have seen some libraries classify this album as a children's book, but it is not one. This is a full-size album, with stories told through photographs. This is a book to show to your children, to display and to cherish. A beautiful record of the past.

One More River to Cross, by Walter Dean Myers displays endless research that is organized revealing a brillant reflection of Black American portraits in such a pique way that the historical snapshots reveal the struggles to freedom that led to hope and resilent faith in the promise land America the Beautiful.
Excellent photographs that capture the emotional ties of the past to the present.

Highly successful and popular children's author Walter Dean Myers has crafted a work of strength and power as he takes the reader on a photographic journey of the African-American from slavery to the present. The photographs assembled, mixed with the author's prose, effectively exhibit the numerous triumphs and tragedies that have been a part of the African-American experience.

Scenes of blacks toiling in the South's cotton fields are blended with rare looks at the black soldier throughout the various conflicts of which this country was involved. There are pictures of the famous (Madame C. J. Walker, Duke Ellington, and Joe Louis, to name a few) interspersed with the not so famous (members of an old "Negro League" baseball team, an unnamed soldier in the rice paddies of Viet Nam, to cite just two).

Professionals do some of the pictures while the amateur for family remembrances has taken others. It is no wonder that the book received a Golden Kite honor award, an accolade presented to authors by authors and artists.

This book comes highly recommended for its historical significance as well as its artistic and social merit.

I teach adult high beginner ESL in NYC. This book is wonderful because every student can relate to something in it. It is authentic stories of immigrants' early encounters with American culture. The exercises after each piece are well done. Includes vocabulary, comprehension questions, topics for discussion or writing, and something fun and challenging, such as a crossword puzzle. I think this could be used at higher ESL levels as well.

"Our Own Stories: Readings for Cross-Cultural Communication" is a great book. I have used it with my middle school and high school ESL students. The stories are great and relevant to my students (and yours too). Each story also has assigned work that relates to the story and then to real life. I find this aspect especially great about this book. I would recommend this to anyone who works with ESL students from 7th (maybe 5th) grade onwards. Get the book and enjoy the stories.

"Our Own Stories: Readings for Cross-Cultural Communication" is a great book. I have used it with my middle school and high school ESL students. The stories are great and relevant to my students (and yours too). Each story also has assigned work that relates to the story and then to real life. I find this aspect especially great about this book. I would recommend this to anyone who works with ESL students from 7th (maybe 5th) grade onwards. Get the book and enjoy the stories.

Lent is the best time to read "THE POWER of the CROSS.

Christ is the only way to live and this book will lead you
back to him.

Worth reading anytime of the year!

When I was in my twenties I encountered another woman, also in her twenties who was dying of cancer. Over the course of a summer she taught me the lesson of the power of the cross...that no matter what life deals us there is a way for those who believe in Christ to approach every event in a way that differs from the rest of humanity. We are not crushed by adversity, in fact we learn not to even judge anything as adversity so has the cross changed the way we look at our lives.

This book is filled with the ways in which the power of the cross can be experienced in our daily lives no matter what happens--illustrated by the stories of people that I have known who have experienced the power of Christ's cross firsthand. It is arranged especially for the season of Lent and will match the readings found in the Catholic lectionary for that season.

Since the book has been available it has been used in a parish group study. A leader of a group that used it wrote me to say:

"We just finished your bible study: The Power of the Cross' - ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL!!!!!!!. It was soooo Catholic and thank you for speaking the truth. We have a lot of Catholics out there (including myself) who missed these lessons over the last 20 years. We have made Catholicism what we wanted it to be. Not how is really is. I believe it opened the eyes of a lot of the ladies in the group."

I hope others will find this book an aid to enriching their spiritual lives.

With the liturgical season of Lent quickly approaching, I am convinced that The Power of the Cross is one of the best resources I've seen lately for enhancing our commitment to spirituality. Whether you choose to implement this book as a "kick start" to your New Year's devotional rituals, or as a supplement to your Lenten devotional aids you will find this book to be an exceptional resource.

Preferential policies based on ethnicty/race have been around for decades and have been used in many cultures. Thomas Sowell does an excellend job of bringing toghether a history of such programs.

In the first part of the book, Sowell deals with results of preferential policies. He looks at such issues as majority preferences in majority economies (such as the treatment of minority groups in America and Nazi Germany), majority preferences in minority economies (such as north Nigerians in Nigeria, Sinhalese in Sri Lanka and Maharashtrians in the Indian state of Maharashtra), and minority preferences in majority economies such as preferential policies towards 'untouchables' in India and minorities in America.

The second portion of Sowell's book deals with the illusins of ppreferential policies such as pitfalls in the agruments and why such programs have not been sucessful as they had planned on being such as creating violence/increating tensin between groups and the ability of such programs to be successful.

Preferential policies are those that treat citizens differently under the law. Sowell analyzes problems of nationality, class, ethnicity, gender, etc. under the umbrella of preferential treatment. His research demonstrates that these seemingly disparate issues share many things in common.

Sowell analyzes preferential policies from a global and causal persepctive. When preferential policies are implemented across many different countries, Sowell raises three questions. First, What "problem" do preferential policies seek to redress? Second, what intended and unintended consequences arise after implementation? Finally, Do preferential policies acheieve their intended effect? Or do they merely aggravate the situation?

These policies usually arise out of "good intentions," whereby one group seeks to equalize their outcome by changing the law to their preference. (For an excellent discussion of equal outcomes vs. equal processes, see Sowell's A Quest For Cosmic Justice) His research shows that whenever countries employ preferential policies, the intended objectives are never met. Second, the unintended consequences usually involve violent backlash, group conflict, and civil war. Finally, using an economic analysis of race, Sowell explains that since preferential policies are inefficient, they usually end in widespread economic disaster.

Sowell identifies three types of preferential policies, which are then analyzed using the three aforementioned questions. The first type of preferential policy occurs when the majority has more legal rights than the minority. (e.g. Malays and Chinese) The second occurs when the minority has more legal rights than the majority. (e.g. South Africa) The third, and perhaps the worst, occurs when one group has more legal rights than an equally large second group. (e.g. The Tamils and Sinhalis in Sri Lanka)

This book is a shattering indictment of political collectivism. Group rights (a clearly contradictory notion), which are the consequences of preferential policies, have failed all over the world. The normative message is clear: the United States would be wise to avoid the path of Rwandas, Malasyas, and Sri Lankas by eschewing the collectivist nightmares that come as a consequence of preferential policies.

In 1990 the Indian Government precipitated riots and episodes of self-immolation with a promise to provide more university places and public service jobs for the lower caste 'untouchables'. Readers of "Preferential Policies" will not find these events surprising because they have happened before in other countries following the introduction of preference policies. Perhaps the most tragic example is the civil war in Sri Lanka.

This book is a historical and comparative study of the strong form of affirmative action whereby the members of supposedly deprived or under-privileged groups become the beneficiaries of government-mandated preferences. These set aside the principles of merit and freedom of choice so that different individuals are no longer judged by the same criteria or subjected to the same procedures.

Sowell describes the various patterns of behaviour and outcomes generated by preferential policies of different kinds. These include preferences for the economically dominant group (South Africa and the old US deep south), majority preferences in economies dominated by minorities (Malaysia, Sri Lanka,) and minority preferences in economies dominated by the majority (contemporary USA and India). The second part of the book explores the errors and muddled thinking which keep preferential policies in place even when they fail to produce the desired effects. Indeed, the very failure of policies which were supposed to be limited and temporary often leads to stronger preference initiatives.

Prior to Sowell's research it appears that hardly anyone paid systematic attention to the gap between the rhetoric and the reality of preference policies. Nor had anybody noticed the depressing similarity in the pattern of events which Sowell records all around the world. Generally the demand for preferential policies comes from well educated, 'new class' members of supposedly disadvantaged groups. The same people also become the main beneficiaries of preference policies which tend to further disadvantage the majority of their bretheren. This was clearly demonstrated in Malaysia where the gap between rich and poor Malays widened in the wake of preference policies for ethnic Malays. A leading advocate of preference conceded the evidence but claimed that the poor Malays preferred to be exploited by their own people.

The most destructive result of preference policies is the polarization of whole societies, as in Sir Lanka, Nigeria (with the attempted Ibo breakaway movement to form Biafra) and some Indian states. The Sri Lankan experience is especially instructive because at the time of independence the Tamil minority and the Sinhalese majority lived side by side in harmony despite their different religions and languages and despite the greater educational and commercial advancement of a section of the Tamils. The elites of both groups tended to be English speaking, mixed freely with each other and were committed to non-sectarian policies. All this changed with one demagogue, S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike. English-speaking, Christian and Oxford-educated, he became a champion of the Sinhalese language, Budhism and preferential treatment for Sinhalese. This resulted in an upset electoral victory for his party in 1956, followed by legislation to make Sinhalese the official language, restriction of the leading teacher-training college to Sinhalese only, and the first of many bloody race riots directed against the Tamils. The downward spiral continued as radical Sinhalese elements demanded stronger forms of preference and groups of Tamils launched a violent secession movement.

If preferential policies do not work, then what is to be done to overcome prejudice and discrimination against particular groups? One way is to rely on market forces backed up by the slow and steady effects of education and example. Of course this process is far too slow and unexciting to satisfy people who would happily see blood shed to realise their dreams. However the power of market forces in this context is that prejudice is free but discrimination has a price. Sowell reports that the streetcar operators in many Southern cities initially defied the 'Jim Crow' legislation that required segregated transport. Something similar has come about in South Africa after some generations of apartheid enabled the 'poor whites' to rise above the black masses, so that some of the Africaners reached the business class.

'Some of the principal beneficiaries of apartheid became its critics, now that their new role as employers forced them to confront the costs of discrimination. The rise of influential business interests within the ruling Nationalist Party has been partly responsible for the slow but widespread erosion of apartheid that began in the 1970s'.

Australia only receives a brief mention as a country where preferential policies 'are still at the stage of optimistic predictions.' If the lessons of this book are assimilated they will remain in that situation. Affirmative action has not yet taken the form of quotas or positive discrimination on a significant scale. Entry to employment and progression on the job are still supposed to reflect merit, and anti-discrimination policies are designed to eliminate unfair hiring and promotion practices. In the US a recent buzzword is 'managing diversity' which means tapping the full potential of all workers in the firm. The aim is to eliminate the confrontational and coercive elements of affirmative action and build a co-operative and creative culture in the workplace.

Turning from the historical record of preferential policies, Sowell examines some of the ideas which support them. He describes these as the illusions of control, knowledge, morality and compensation. Hovering behind them all is one of the great superstitions of modern times, namely the doctrine of Salvation by Political Action. If only people can have the vote, obtain national self-determination, be free of colonial rule etc then utopia is at hand. However one of the great advances in modern politics was the achievement of limited government, and this was essentially a pre-democratic development. This is not to deride the institutions of Parliamentary democracy, merely to warn that they are under increasing strain from the expectations that are placed on State activity (such as preference policies).

I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the Mormon Pioneer women and the way they created a "heaven on earth" in their early Utah homes through quiltmaking. I would encourage anyone who enjoys LDS Pioneer history to use this book as a great reference guide for inspiration in creating a warm home.

I was looking for a book to pass the time. I got lost for hours in this book and wished it was hundreds of pages more. The photos of the quiltmakers and the quilts are priceless. There is so much historical knowledge in this book, that I feel Mary Bywater Cross should be awarded an honorary doctorate degree in the history of quiltmaking and of the Morman Migration.

This book is a remarkable history of the fabrics used & the styles chosen together with where the women were born, when they stitched the presented treasure, when & where they joined the Latter-Day Saints & when they made the migration westward.

Each quilt, no matter its condition, its purpose or the technical skill, leads to a compelling discovery of previously unknown women's lives. Witness the three lions in a circlet on which has been embroidered the British monarch's motto or the "Star Quilt" of Sage Richards Treharne Jones from Wales who came on her parents' mission, both of whom succumbed along the trail. Or Mary Mortensen Bjork's migration from Denmark & her lively "Crazy Patch Quilt"; or Christina Erika Forsgren Davis from Sweden & her plain & simple "Strip Quilt". Or Betsy Prudence Howard Bullock's "Peter and Paul Quilt" all the way from Bedfordshire, England. Or Matilda Robison King's "Washington Plume" applique on her way from Montgomery County, New York. Many women were members of the same Relief Society & so made several quilts with similar designs.

Mary Bywater Cross has done quilters, pioneers & women in general a profound service by her research, writing about & cataloging these fragile & beautiful works of art & comfort. There is something deeply connective about the fabrics & designs created by these intrepid & enduring women.

A must for anyone who loves quilting & history - do visit my site for my full review & eInterview with this quilt historian as well as other books on quilting.

AW Tozer was a godly man. I have never read one of his books without being convicted and that is a good thing. I fear that we have very few uncompromised preachers like him today which is sad.

Be forewarned: After reading this book, you will be held accountable for its contents!

This book is NOT for those who are satisfied with their walk with God. I know this sounds "harsh," and "negative," but one can only say what is on one's heart.

Aiden W. Tozer did not play with God, and his writings enjoin us not to either. To him, the Christian walk was serious business and in no where else was this seriousness made more manifest than on Mount Calvary. There on that Mount, the greatest sacrifice that would ever be made, was made when the Just and Holy One gave His Life a ransom for many, that He might purify a people, zealous of good works, unto Himself.

This book needed no introduction, yet it has two which I feel are a distraction from what Rev. Tozer was trying to show us. This work did not need anyone to speek for it; the Holy Spirit Himself would bear witness. Nevertheless, this prophet of old's voice rang out against the "cross-less" Christianity he saw in his day, and which has gained in popularity in our day. Throught his simple words you can sense the Holy Spirit pleading with the professing Christian not to be satisfied with dead works, ceremony, sacramentalism, and form, but rather to lay one's life down, take up your/my cross, and follow Him daily; that we would partake of the greatness of the spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus by dying to self.

This book, along with The Pursuit of God, make great resources for one's own devotional life. I promise you as a sinner saved/kept by grace, that your walk with the LORD of ALL will not be the same if you take Tozer's words in these two books seriously.

This is simply a Great book by a Great author about a Great subject. This book is written for Christians that either want to be inspired or be reminded of the Christian Cross to stir up the passions within one's soul.

A concern was that the writing may be stilted, dated or out of style and therefore a drudgery to read but that was the furtherest from the truth. This book will certainly cause you to view the Cross with a passion that you may never have experienced and I write as a minister with over 30 years experience.

There are 7 sections each with 4 or 5 chapters that stand alone and therefore could be read as a devotional that is dedicated to the Radical Cross.

Chapter titles such as: The Cross is a Radical Thing; No One Wants to Die on a Cross; Coddled or Crucified; Dead in Christ and What Easter is About.

I challenge ANY believer to read this book that would like to have a new fire in their faith because it will be impossible not to be affected with this author's writing and understanding.

This is not a theological book, though there is theology, this is an inspirational book.

Read it and be inspired!!!

Publications about Freemasonry and its history tend to fall into two classes - the first written by and for Freemasons and of little interest to anyone else; the second sensational and denunciatory, portraying the Craft as a diabolic conspiracy against God and man. Academic historians have mostly paid little attention to Freemasonry, perhaps because it has seemed the province of dabblers and fanatics. Christopher McIntosh is neither, and has treated an interesting period in history during which offshoots of the Craft had significant social and political importance, in a sensible and factual way, and with impeccable scholarship.

Much has been made by conspiracy theorists of Adam Weishaupt's Illuminati, attributing to it all manner of sinister influence. Yet, as McIntosh shows, a system of hautes-grades Freemasonry called the Gold- und Rosenkreuz both had a longer life and achieved actual political influence the Illuminati never did. Two cabinet ministers of the Prussian King Frederick William II, Johann Christof Wöllner and Johann Rudolf von Bischoffswerder, were the chiefs of this order, and the king was a member. Under the ministry of Wöllner and Bischoffswerder, the Prussian government sought to enforce a rigorous Lutheran orthodoxy against the rising tide of "enlightened" scepticism and scientism. Wöllner and Bischoffswerder have been described as "the first self-consciously conservative politicians in German history." Throughout the Holy Roman Empire, Gold- und Rosenkreuz circles found themselves in rivalry with Illuminati groups, as McIntosh describes in his chapter on "The Polemical Stance of the Gold- und Rosenkreuz."

While this episode of Masonic history has understandably been neglected by the conspiracy theorists, because it does not fit their preconceptions, some German historians have represented the Gold- und Rosenkreuz as a completely reactionary, anti-Aufklärung force. McIntosh shows that this was really not true, and that the Gold- und Rosenkreuz represented a different size of the phenomenon we refer to as the Enlightenment. The philosophical ferment of the eighteenth century incorporated Adam Smith, Samuel Johnson, and Edmund Burke as well as Voltaire, Helvétius, LaMettrie and Rousseau. It is facile to equate the Enlightenment with the views of a few French philosophes.

While the political influence of the Gold- und Rosenkreuz petered out with the death of Frederick William II, its cultural influence lasted well into the nineteenth century and extended as far east as Russia, and as far west as Great Britain, where the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia was founded using the ritual and grade structure of the Gold- und Rosenkreuz. This, in turn, gave rise to the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, which attracted a curious blend of literary and artistic figures, wealthy dilettantes, and a few charlatans like Mathers and Crowley.

What I wish McIntosh had pointed out more explicitly is that the importance of secret and semi-secret groups in politics is inversely proportional to the degree of freedom in the body politic. In Great Britain, the wellspring of speculative Freemasonry, the Craft never developed a political character, because the country was a constitutional monarchy. Representative government (if not complete democracy) and substantial latitude in public discourse (if not perfect freedom of speech) already existed there by the eighteenth century. Prussia, in contrast, was an absolute monarchy. Public dissent from the policies of government was suppressed as thoroughly as possible. In such a climate, masonic lodges became hospitable refuges for those having political aims, which were facilitated by members' pledges of secrecy and mutual assistance. Everywhere "political" freemasonry continues to exist in continental Europe and Latin America similarly had or has a comparable pattern of repressing open political dialogue.

Furthermore, as Eric Voegelin has pointed out in his "New Science of Politics," there is an affinity between gnosticism and totalitarianism. The latter has philosophical roots in the former. On the continent of Europe there are two streams of gnosticism that arguably have led to competing totalitarian systems. One, flowing from French philosophes like d'Alembert and Rousseau, through Weishaupt, to early nineteenth-century German rationalist philosophers, ultimately ends in the swamp of Marxism. The other, represented by the occultism of the Gold- und Rosenkreuz, flows through German romanticism, antiquarianism, and pseudo-scientific philology, among others to Nietzsche, Lanz "von Liebenfels," Glauer "von Sebottendorf," as well as through Blavatsky, Guénon, Evola, and empties into Fascism and Nazism. However different these systems may seem, both propose to build utopian societies in which men will be "as gods." It should be no surprise that they have come a-cropper even more disastrously than did the efforts of Wöllner and Bischoffswerder.

Publications about Freemasonry and its history tend to fall into two classes - the first written by and for Freemasons and of little interest to anyone else; the second sensational and denunciatory, portraying the Craft as a diabolic conspiracy against God and man. Academic historians have mostly paid little attention to Freemasonry, perhaps because it has seemed the province of dabblers and fanatics. Christopher McIntosh is neither, and has treated an interesting period in history during which offshoots of the Craft had significant social and political importance, in a sensible and factual way, and with impeccable scholarship.

Much has been made by conspiracy theorists of Adam Weishaupt's Illuminati, attributing to it all manner of sinister influence. Yet, as McIntosh shows, a system of hautes-grades Freemasonry called the Gold- und Rosenkreuz both had a longer life and achieved actual political influence the Illuminati never did. Two cabinet ministers of the Prussian King Frederick William II, Johann Christof Wöllner and Johann Rudolf von Bischoffswerder, were the chiefs of this order, and the king was a member. Under the ministry of Wöllner and Bischoffswerder, the Prussian government sought to enforce a rigorous Lutheran orthodoxy against the rising tide of "enlightened" scepticism and scientism. Wöllner and Bischoffswerder have been described as "the first self-consciously conservative politicians in German history." Throughout the Holy Roman Empire, Gold- und Rosenkreuz circles found themselves in rivalry with Illuminati groups, as McIntosh describes in his chapter on "The Polemical Stance of the Gold- und Rosenkreuz."

While this episode of Masonic history has understandably been neglected by the conspiracy theorists, because it does not fit their preconceptions, some German historians have represented the Gold- und Rosenkreuz as a completely reactionary, anti-Aufklärung force. McIntosh shows that this was really not true, and that the Gold- und Rosenkreuz represented a different size of the phenomenon we refer to as the Enlightenment. The philosophical ferment of the eighteenth century incorporated Adam Smith, Samuel Johnson, and Edmund Burke as well as Voltaire, Helvétius, LaMettrie and Rousseau. It is facile to equate the Enlightenment with the views of a few French philosophes.

Although the political influence of the Gold- und Rosenkreuz petered out with the death of Frederick William II, its cultural influence lasted well into the nineteenth century and extended as far east as Russia, and as far west as Great Britain, where the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia was founded using the ritual and grade structure of the Gold- und Rosenkreuz. This, in turn, gave rise to the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, which attracted a curious blend of literary and artistic figures, wealthy dilettantes, and a few charlatans like Mathers and Crowley.

What I wish McIntosh had pointed out more explicitly is that the importance of secret and semi-secret groups in politics is inversely proportional to the degree of freedom in the body politic. In Great Britain, the wellspring of speculative Freemasonry, the Craft never developed a political character, because the country was a constitutional monarchy. Representative government (if not complete democracy) and substantial latitude in public discourse (if not perfect freedom of speech) already existed there by the eighteenth century. Prussia, in contrast, was an absolute monarchy. Public dissent from the policies of government was suppressed as thoroughly as possible. In such a climate, masonic lodges became hospitable refuges for those having political aims, which were facilitated by members' pledges of secrecy and mutual assistance. Everywhere "political" freemasonry continues to exist in continental Europe and Latin America similarly had or has a comparable pattern of repressing open political dialogue.

Furthermore, as Eric Voegelin has pointed out in his "New Science of Politics," there is an affinity between gnosticism and totalitarianism. The latter has philosophical roots in the former. On the continent of Europe there are two streams of gnosticism that arguably have led to competing totalitarian systems. One, flowing from French philosophes like d'Alembert and Rousseau, through Weishaupt, to early nineteenth-century German rationalist philosophers, ultimately ends in the swamp of Marxism. The other, represented by the occultism of the Gold- und Rosenkreuz, flows through German romanticism, antiquarianism, and pseudo-scientific philology, among others to Nietzsche, Lanz "von Liebenfels," Glauer "von Sebottendorf," as well as through Blavatsky, Guénon, Evola, and empties into Fascism and Nazism. However different these systems may seem, both propose to build utopian societies in which men will be "as gods." It should be no surprise that they have come a-cropper even more disastrously than did the efforts of Wöllner and Bischoffswerder.

If you're here because you're looking for it--then you've found it. "The Rose Cross and the Age of Reason" provides a much needed re-evaluation of 18th century esoteric movements in Continential Europe, especially in Germany. The study is an evaluation of the structure, rituals, and doctrine of the Gold und Rosencreutz, an esoteric but politically powerful Rosicrucian order in Germany from about 1760 to the end of the 18th century. Many governent officials, as well as merchants and other professionals, were members of this order, which practiced an austere Christianity, but one powerfully symbolic as well. Alchemy and masonry also came to the fore in this study.

McIntosh's judgment is that the evaluate literature so far has painted occultism, especially German esotericism, as anti-Enlightenment in structure, doctrine, and function. This is commonly explained by the pietism of its members, who were resistant tor openly hostile to Cartesian science and metaphysics. The "G und R" also became involved in a conservative, perhaps even reactionary monarchy in Prussia (King Frederick William II). As this Rosicrucian movement gained power, it drew the ire of a number of Enlightnment critics, and a secret society, the Bavarian Illuminati, was formed in part to oppose it.

McIntosh demonstrates conclusively that simply judging the G und R as anti-Enlightenment is not the case, and he suggests a more nuanced view. To do this, McIntosh identifies three modalities of thought that were operative at the time in 18th century Germany, an Enlightenment mode, represented by Kant and others, the Orthodox churches (Catholic, Lutheran, and Reformed) and a variety of Hermetic Neoplatonism, informed by Kabbalistic (both Jewish and Christian) discourse and alchemy, both theorectical and practical. Between the Orthodox religious views (the Counter-Enlightenment) and the Aufklarer, the Neoplatonic intellectual mode argued for a metaphysics illuminated by divine quintessance at every level. Drawing on classic Gnosticism and German Protestant Pietism, this Hermetic strain that gave birth to the G und R shared some characteristics with each of the other two movements. Like orthodox Christianity, the G und R held to a mostly world-negative cosmology and pessimistic epistemology, and taught that before all else men must fear and rever Jesus Christ. However, Pietism, Kabbalah and other influences gave it a strong emphasis on self-development towards the Kingdom of the Paraclete, and as such nationalistic development toward this idea as well. Reason and Science were encouraged so long as they took place within this religious telos, and many of the G und R and associated occultists found themselves on this list of prohibited books in Rome. Relations with the clergy were sometimes tense, and the G und R at times made moves to silence Counter-Enlightment clergy when they felt their interests threatened.

What this text adds to a dicussion of esotericism and intellectual culture is a better framework of understanding the relationship of these metaphysical and religious movements and their influence on culture. In much of the scholarly literature and popular imagination, such religious and magical movements represent a return to "irrationality" and as such can easily be dismissed by Enlightenment discourse as unworthy cultural productions. McIntosh's text recontextualizes occultism and shows that it can (and has) had a pervasive cultural impact at crucial times and places.

I would like to say that it's a shame on my part that it took me so long after becoming familiar with this subject to now have purchased this book. It is stimulating and personal non-fiction about a man who deserves far more credit to his name than we now give him. Each chapter reads like a letter to the general public from someone who knew R. Gordon Wasson personally. If you have any interest in knowing how America became familar with the psilocybe mushrooms proceed and read the Life Magazine article from the 1950s. It's on the net. If you want an expanded version from various angles, including biographical information on Wasson, pick this book up.

"The Sacred Mushroom Seeker" has been selected for listing in "Religion and Psychoactive Sacraments: An Entheogen Chrestomathy." http://www.csp.org/chrestomathy

This is a one-of-a-kind tribute to R. Gordon Wasson, widely credited as the primary founder of ethnomycology, whose history-making investigations into fungi across culture led him to the trail of the sacred mushrooms of Mesoamerica. The contributions by various authors are excellent, and the production superb. It features high-quality reproductions of historic photographs of mushroom ceremonies of the Mazatec (some originally published in LIFE magazine), along with some breath-taking pictures never-before-seen. Interesting, informative highlights come one after the other, from a nice assortment of Wasson's highly accomplished colleagues. This is a distinguished work that cannot be praised too highly, and will grow in stature with time. It was fittingly published as #11 in Wasson's Ethnomycological Studies, and goes well on the shelf alongside the others in that series. Very well done, and highly recommended for those with serious interest in this fascinating and important subject.