Reviews for Secret Architecture of Our Nation's Capital: The Masons and the Building of Washington, D.C.

The average rating for Secret Architecture of Our Nation's Capital: The Masons and the Building of Washington, D.C. based on 2 reviews is 2 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-01-04 00:00:00 Steve Macdonald I think there may have been something to this book, but it was very poorly organized, and the author seemed so married to his thesis that he was willing to stretch even the most innocuous of coincidences into evidence to support it, while glossing over, ignoring, or potentially distorting other facts. There are a surprising number of Masons among the U.S.'s Founding Fathers, and much has been made of the arcane nature of other symbols within the US - such as the seal on the back of the dollar bill, or the fact that one can find a compass and square in the layout of the streets of Washington, DC. Given its title, I was hoping this book would address that - and it did, to an extent. However, what I did not expect, and what I found, was a great deal of emphasis on astrology, and zodialogical symbolism - to the degree that I found the book both turgid and, at times, inaccessible. Moreover, there seemed to be no accessible structure. Rather than proceeding with a logical argument, the book bounced from era to era and building to building and astrological event to astrological event all the while concurrently comparing French and English astrology to earlier Greek and Egyptian predecessors and trying to draw a line from Virgo to Isis to the Virgin Mary (an argument I buy, but which was so scattered within the book and confused with other astrological reference to Sirius (the dog star) and attempts to stomp out Egyptian references elsewhere as to do little more than confuse the matter. Were that not enough, there were other areas where the author ignored the influence of historical events or used misleading language in order to support his thesis. Two that stood out were with regard to the building of the National Monument. The author places a great deal of emphasis on the alignment of the planets on the day that the monument was finished and the final point of the oblisk laid in place. He acknowledges that the building slowed for a while, but then gets back to the significance of the date that it was finished, and mentions congressional decrees surrounding the date and time as though it was planned specifically with the Masons in Congress and the final architect who also happened to be a Mason. NEVER anywhere in this description does he even mention the fact that the monument's construction stopped not just because of disagreements on the design and lack of funding, but ALSO BECAUSE THE CIVIL WAR INTERRUPTED THINGS A BIT. Similarly, he spends numerous pages discussing George Washington's role of as a Mason. Following that, he immediately launches into the signing of the Declaration of Independence. "What must the Mason signing it have thought," he writes as though Washington were there among them rather than trying to keep his men warm at Valley Forge. For while Washington may have been a Mason, he most certainly was not among the signers and to imply otherwise is not just misleading but fundamentally poor historiography. There were some interesting elements regarding symbolism of the laying of corner stones of the buildings and within the decorations and structures of the building themselves. But they really were far too buried in the author's reliance on astrology which I think distracted both from the text and any potential purpose in the book. An overview of symbolism and its significance, followed by an incorporation of the symbolism into the city, and nods to those in the city who were members of the fraternity would have made a much more readable, and even credible book than the one I read. Did the author find astrology to be of significance, it could've been incorporated as an appendix, or perhaps a text unto itself rather then trying to weave it into the body of this one.

Review # 2 was written on 2008-11-05 00:00:00 Johnny Jacques Very disappointing. This book would have benefited from being half as long with twice as many applicable illustrations. Many illustrations are kind of pointless and don't help move the book along, and many important points are not illustrated at all. Not very much info on Masonry, aside from basic esoteric wisdom gained easily by studying astrology and the occult in general. The book skips around from topic to topic and building to building, and I can't count how many times the author starts to cover something fairly interesting and then says "more on that later". It's written in a circular style, hard to get a grasp on any one issue and follow the thread all the way through. Seems as if this was largely written simply to justify his meanderings around D.C., looking at every zodiac and statue possible to support his theory that the city is oriented toward Virgo both architecturally as well as symbolically. His theory is sound, and I agree that D.C. is designed to highlight Virgo and bring its energies in, but he could have "proved" this much more succinctly. Unless you are fascinated by D.C., this book won't hold your interest long. As an astrologer, I found it boring and it took forever to get through because it kept putting me to sleep! And as someone fascinated by the Masons, the book has almost no valuable information on them and is not worth reading to try to learn more. Many people are mentioned whose influence seems slight, and many stories are told that don't seem to tie in to the main gist of the book. It veers all over the place with anecdotes and history, but much of it is beside the point and just not interesting at all.