Dr Richard (Ric) Berman is a British historian who writes about the intersection of freemasonry, politics and society.
He has written four books on British and Irish freemasonry, including The Foundations of Modern Freemasonry; Schism; and Espionage, Diplomacy & the Lodge; and three that explore American freemasonry: Loyalists & Malcontents; From Roanoke to Raleigh; and The Grand Lodge of England & Colonial America – America’s Grand Masters.
Ric holds a Masters in Economics from the University of Cambridge and a Doctorate in History from the University of Exeter.
His post-doctoral research was carried out at the University of Oxford’s Modern European History Research Centre and as a Visiting Research Fellow at Oxford Brookes.
Born in London, Ric lives in Oxfordshire.
Source: Amazon Bio
Foundations of Modern Freemasonry
By Ric Berman
Following the appointment of its first aristocratic Grand Masters in the 1720s and in the wake of its connections to the scientific Enlightenment, Free and Accepted Masonry became part of Britain’s national profile and the largest and most influential of Britain’s extensive clubs and societies.
The organisation did not evolve naturally from the mediaeval guilds and religious orders that pre-dated it but was reconfigured radically by a largely self-appointed inner core at London’s most influential lodge, the Horn Tavern. Freemasonry became a vehicle for the expression of their philosophical and political views, and the Craft attracted an aspirational membership across the upper middling and gentry.
Through an examination of previously unexplored primary documentation, Foundations contributes to an understanding of contemporary English political and social culture and explores how Freemasonry became a mechanism that promoted the interests of the Hanoverian establishment and connected the metropolitan and provincial elites.
The book explores social networks centred on the aristocracy, parliament, the learned and professional societies, and the magistracy, and provides pen portraits of the key individuals who spread the Masonic message.
“Foundations & Schism” (Sussex Academic, 2013), have been described as the most important books on English Freemasonry published in recent times, providing a precise, social context for the invention of English Freemasonry.
Berman’s analysis throws a new and original light on the formation and development of what rapidly became a national and international phenomenon.
Espionage, Diplomacy & the Lodge:
Charles Delafaye and The Secret Department of the Post Office
By Ric Berman
Espionage, Diplomacy & the Lodge is one of Ric Berman’s most important works.
The book unveils Charles Delafaye, one of eighteenth-century Britain’s least known but most influential figures, a senior under-secretary of state, investigating magistrate, anti-Jacobite spymaster and leading freemason.
Delafaye was a member of the elite Horn Tavern lodge in London and at the centre of the government’s inner circle for some two decades.
He was also a key conduit for intelligence from the Secret Department of the Post Office and the decrypters and code-breakers within its deciphering branch, and central to the measures taken against the supporters of James Stuart, ‘the king over the water’.
Berman provides a unique glimpse into Britain’s early secret intelligence service and outlines for the first time the interconnections between freemasonry, espionage and diplomacy.
Exploring Early Grand Lodge Freemasonry:
Studies in Honor of the Tricentennial of the Establishment of the Grand Lodge of England
According to Masonic records, the Grand Lodge of England was established June 24, 1717, in London.
Soon afterward, Freemasonry, a fraternal society of obscure origins and antiquity, began to spread rapidly throughout and beyond the British Empire.
This volume of intriguing essays by eminent and emerging Masonic scholars explores the history and culture of Freemasonry during that period of expansion.
What did Masons of the early Grand Lodge era actually do in their lodges?
How did these brethren think of themselves and their Craft?
What were their motivations and ideals?
What was their experience of Freemasonry?
By posing such questions, our contributors have been able to study not just an institutional beginning, but the cultural realities of Masonic life in the first decades of the Grand Lodge’s history.
Featuring contributions by Ric Berman, David Harrison, Jedediah French, Nathan A. St. Pierre, Dana Scofield, Christopher B. Murphy, and Shawn Eyer, Exploring Early Grand Lodge Freemasonry critically re-examines key aspects of early Masonic life and thought, revealing the philosophical and social underpinnings of an organization that remains an intriguing cultural phenomenon.
Editorial Reviews
“The numerous contributors to Exploring Early Grand Lodge Freemasonry develop a cogent case for reassessing the origins and evolution of the Craft in Great Britain during the early and middle years of the eighteenth century.
Based on a meticulous investigation of primary and secondary sources, this lucidly written and suggestive study incisively reveals new thinking in looking at the leadership, ritualism, and lodge life of early Speculative Freemasonry.
This seminal study, which in many ways breaks new ground, will be frequently consulted and will be recognized as a classic in Masonic scholarship.”
—R. William Weisberger, Ph.D., author of Speculative Freemasonry and the Enlightenment and Freemasonry on Both Sides of the Atlantic.
“A composed and considered phenomenological exploration of Freemasonry’s original cultural intent; this collection subtly asserts new and emerging ideas on the lived reality of Masonic life during the first quarter of the eighteenth century.
Too often in the name of objectivity have masonic authors allowed restraint to entirely obscure that vital sense of sympathetic engagement that is actually so essential in understanding the people of the tradition itself.
Striking a methodological balance of textual criticism, historicist contextualisation and sympathetic neutrality, this valuable collection finally underlines that whole new emergent understanding amongst scholars that suggests traditional academic treatments of masonic history that deny outright the intellectual validity of the Craft’s own self-belief in its mythological claims to antiquity and intrinsic mystery—as are portrayed in the primary texts themselves (rituals, catechisms, etc.)—are in fact, academically ‘neurotic’ and endemic of the kind of intellectual insincerity so self-effacingly corrosive in mainstream masonic research.”
—Stewart Clelland, Master of Arts in Western Esotericism, Exeter University
Recent Articles: book reviews
Book Review - Managing The Future of Freemasonry
The golden years of Freemasonry have passed with the departure of a world never likely to return. We cannot pretend that our membership problem will simply go away. If we are to rescue our order, we must take an objective look at ourselves and understand the society we now face. By Dr David J West
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Book Review - What Just Happened? By Hugh O'Neill
This series of booklets will attempt to describe in plain terms what was involved in conferring the three degree, a little of its historical and traditional basis, as well as the ideas presented to new members for their contemplation now and in the future. By Hugh O'Neill
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Book Review - Dudley Wright: Writer, Truthseeker & Freemason
Dudley Wright (1868-1950) was an Englishman who took a universalist approach to the various great Truths of Life, he travelled though many religions in his life and wrote about them all, but was probably most at home with Islam.
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Book Review - Learning Ritual - An Easy Process
This book presents a simple, effective, and time-proven approach to the memorization and performance of Masonic ritual. Learning Ritual: A Simple Process offers the reader a simple universal approach to any form of Masonic ritual whether it is Blue or Craft Lodge or that of a high degree.
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Book Review - The Freemasons
The Freemasons - The History, Nature, Development and Secret of the Royal Art, was originally published in German under the title 'Die Friemaurer' and in 1930 was awarded the 'Peters-Baertsoen Prize' by the Grand Orient of Belgium.
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Book Review - Anderson's Constitutions - 1723
This book contains a faithful reproduction of the first edition of the Constitutions of the Free-Masons, printed in London in 1723. The text, word spelling and paragraph size has been maintained, original restored decorations have been used, and font and character typesets have been carefully replicated.
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Book Review - High Meridian
Ben Zion's awaited second book - This book contains a highly thought-provoking, or perhaps, more crucially a challenging narrative on the esoteric aspects of Freemasonry. There is no cautious conjecture, no frivolous ‘woo-woo’ approach, Zion dives straight in and makes us think…hard!
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Book Review - Seven Habits of Highly Successful Lodges
Successful Lodges tend to share several common features. In this exciting new book, well-known author and speaker Tony Harvey draws on his extensive experience in different areas within Freemasonry to identify the key features most often seen in our strongest, happiest, and most attractive Lodges.
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Book Review - Over 300 years of Masonic Ritual
This book celebrates the 300th anniversary of the founding of the Premier Grand Lodge in June 1717, by reviewing the basis of our workings from the earliest records to the formation of the United Grand Lodge of England in December 1813 and further.
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Book Review - Freemasons: 555 Illustrations
Written by one of the highest Masonic dignitaries, this unique book reveals the secrets of Freemasonry in inspiring images and quotes.
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Book Review - Chapter & Verse: 100 years of Royal Arch Talks
The publication of Chapter & Verse is in celebration of the centenary of Authors’ Chapter No. 3456; it takes the form of an anthology of some seventy-five talks presented in the Chapter. The spread of authors ensures divers interpretations of the Royal Arch narrative and dramatis personae.
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Book Review - Inventing the Future
This book sets out those principles, considers the people involved and explores the framework within which their ideas were formed. And it discusses how the Constitutions evolved. - By Ric Berman
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Book Review - The Freethinking Freemason
Tim Bryce's "The Freethinking Freemason" offers sage advice on how to run a Masonic Lodge, editorials on the future direction of the fraternity, and stories aimed at entertaining Masons.
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Book Review - 21st Century Rosicrucianism
When the original Rosicrucian pamphlets were circulated in the early 1600s they sent a shockwave across Europe, instigating a surge of activity that changed the course of Western Esotericism.
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Book Review - Widows Sons: Outlaw Bikers or Masonic Ambassadors
Outlaw Bikers or Masonic Ambassadors. Fully recognised and approved by the United Grand Lodge of England, 2018 marked the twentieth anniversary of the creation of the Widows Sons, with 2019 marking the fifteenth anniversary of the Widows Sons starting in the UK. Book by Wayne Owens.
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Book Review - Freemasonry & the Enlightenment
This superbly illustrated study of Free masonry’s influence on Western culture, especially in the 18th and early19th centuries, has been recognised as one of the most original and important contributions towards a greater understanding of the Enlightenment published in recent times.
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Book Review – Haunted Chambers: The Lives of Early Women Freemasons
These women aren't supposed to have existed. But they did. "Haunted Chambers", for the first time ever, presents not only the most complete list of early women Freemasons but also as much detail about their lives as can still be found. By Karen Kidd
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Book Review - The Point Within the Circle
This is a very unusual book on Freemasonry. It takes the reader on a journey through some of the esoteric elements that are integral to Freemasonry's design. It shows how the Masonic temple itself is constructed in accordance with three ancient systems. By Matthew Ridgley Clark
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Book Review – Robert's Rules of Order: Masonic Edition
New Updated Edition with section for online Masonic gatherings! - Experienced legislators, editors, civic leaders, business executives, and club officers all pronounce Robert's Rules of Order the best parliamentary guide in the English language.
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Book Review - Freemasonry - Theory of the Origins
This book charts the transformational processes which combine in a peak between the end of the seventeenth and the start of the eighteenth century. By Fabio Venzi
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Book Review - Some Masonic Musings
The papers in this volume cover fifty years of research and thought. They were often also produced to fill out programmes for Lodges of Research and there is a degree of repetition and overlap. by Aubrey N. Newman
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Book Review - The Full Spectrum of Freemasonry
This book reflects the author’s research interests in Victorian Freemasonry, and the Orders beyond the Craft and provides a better understanding of how the other Masonic Orders have grown and developed in parallel with Craft Masonry by Richard Gan
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Book Review - Famous Freemasons who Changed the World
There are 110 biographical entries in the book. Famous people where also Freemasons who changed the world by Kent Henderson
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Book Review - The Siblys of London
The colourful life of Ebenezer Sibly; a quack doctor, plagiarist, and masonic ritualist in late eighteenth-century London; by Dr Susan Mitchell Sommers
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Book Review – We Three or Three Such as We
No review can begin to touch the sensitivity with which the people therein have been described, nor the extent of the layers and levels of their esoteric lodge experience, something that sadly few will ever achieve
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Book Review - In The Steps Of The Templars
This comprehensive, authoritative, up to date history of the Masonic Knight Templar and Knights of Malta covers everything from the crusading Orders of Knighthood from which the modern Masonic Templar Orders
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Book Review – The Freemasons Stopped in the Middle of the Ford
This book tries to approach Freemasonry from different sides; not so much to explain how he understands it as to encourage the reader to seek his own answers – on its methods, its organization, and its meaning. By Peter Bu
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Book Review - Alternative Masonic Addresses For The Craft Degrees
Do you get asked to give an address at your lodge ? Are you looking for an alternative address ? Then take a look at this collection of alternative masonic addresses for the craft degrees prepared by Lewis Masonic
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Book Review - A Path to Providence: The Creation of the Middle Chamber Program
Masonic Education has regrettably been reduced to teaching protocol, traditions, and catechism while ignoring the esoteric essence of the ritual. By Shaun Bradshaw (Author), Ben Wallace (Author), Flynn Ryan (Cover Art)
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Book Review - A Glossary Of The Craft And Holy Royal Arch Ritual Terms
This handy little book describes the origins and original meanings of the sometimes obscure words used in our ritual by Brigadier A.C.F. Jackson
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Book Review - Making A Daily Advancement
In this work the author brings together a whole range of Masonic facts including the origins of our customs, our rituals and our practices, by Michael Lawrence
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Book Review - Nobly Born: An Illustrated History of the Knights Templar
The Templars were an unusual Order in that they lived both an active and contemplative life; making them effectively the first warrior-monks in the western world. by Stephen Dafoe
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Book Review - A Deserving Brother: George Washington and Freemasonry
Like several of America’s founding fathers, George Washington was a Freemason. In 'A Deserving Brother', Mark Tabbert presents a complete story of Washington’s known association with Freemasonry.
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Book Review - Taken by Surprise
Never again will a Freemason be caught out by a last-minute request to make a response. - Taken by Surprise by Yasha Beresiner
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book review - Whence Come You
The message of the book is essentially one of Freemasonry being unequivocally esoteric – spiritual – and that is something that many Masons may balk at but it is a topic that needs discussing rationally.
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Book Review - The Other Brotherhood: When Freemasonry Crossed the English Channel
An excellent book, being perfect for Freemasons and non-Freemasons alike who want to explore the origins of Freemasonry and to examine how it influenced French thought in the eighteenth century
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Book review - The Tracing Boards of the First Degree
The Tracing Board is a picture that encloses the quintessence of the ritual of the Degree and transmits it through symbols and images. By Enrico Marcia
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Book Review - Becoming a Craftsman -The Masonic Tutor's Handbooks: Volume 3
Becoming a Craftsman -The Masonic Tutor's Handbooks: Volume 3 - The relationship between a Fellowcraft and their Master is how the traditional wisdom of our Craft is passed on.
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Book Review - Freemasonry in London from 1785
This book is a well-researched study by a competent masonic scholar who has welded links from the changing scenes that arose in an era in which the most important step forward in organised Freemasonry was taken…
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Book Review - Meditations of a Flawed Ashlar
Many readers will probably be familiar with Bill Hosler – he is a much-respected and veteran American Freemason and a regular contributor to the Midnight Freemasons blog.
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Book Review - The Masonry of the «Moderns»: History and Rituality
The Masonic ritual world dates back to the 18th century, both from England and from France, which is still our most valuable reference.
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Book Review - Three Stages of Initiatic Spirituality - Angel Millar
Angel Millar is a well-known lecturer on Freemasonry, initiation, and esotericism as well as an artist and student of the martial arts. The author of several books.
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Book Review - The Rite of Seven Degrees
This book examines the deeply esoteric eighteenth-century Rite of Seven Degrees.
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Book Review - The Green Book of the Elus Coens
The Green Book of the Élus Coëns is the most fascinating insight yet into the secrets and mysteries of the eighteenth century’s most esoteric of masonic societies – The Order of Knight-Mason Elect-Cohens of the Universe.
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Book Review - Freemasonry for the Heart and Mind
Freemasonry for the Heart and Mind: A glance at Freemasonry during the Enlightenment and the American and French revolutions.
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Book Review - The Masonic Pageant
The Masonic Pageant is published by Cornerstone Book Publishers and features a nice foreword by Chris Hodapp, 33°.
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Book Review - Invisibles
It is reasonable to suggest that when published, Invisibles was the most comprehensive, comparative study, to date, of the Rosicrucian mega-meme.
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Book Review - Mnemonic Methods
Within this book 'Mnemonic Methods by Robert Fludd', translator Paul Ferguson introduces us to the English translation of two of Fludd's short treatises on memory
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Book Review - English Illuminati
This book gives us a deep look into the European occult revival of the late nineteenth century and some of its key figures…
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Book Review - Emulation: A Ritual to Remember
How does one begin to review a masonic classic which has faithfully served generations? Perhaps starting with the title Emulation: A Ritual to Remember.
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Book Review - The Rosslyn Hoax
Robert Cooper asks, would you like to know the truth about Rosslyn Chapel ?
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Book Review - Mastering Masonic Ritual
Mastering Masonic Ritual is focused on preparing for a successful and fulfilling journey around the floor to the Chair.
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Book Review - Companions of Christian Rosenkreutz
A review of Companions of Christian Rosenkreutz - Collected Papers 2008-2016
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Book Review - Freemasonry: Material Moral and Mystical
A review of Freemasonry: Material, Moral, and Mystical by Tony Baker
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Book Review - Three Distinct Knocks - John Meeks
"Why don't these new guys come back?" This is the question I often hear; and it is this same question that pushed me to write this book. - John Meek
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Book Review - Soldier and Mason
Soldier and Mason: The Life of Charles Warren Napier-Clavering
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Book Review - Bohemian Masonic Glass
A completely unique narrative publication mapping the phenomenon of glass production for the needs of Masonic lodges
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Book Review - This Chequered Existence
Gerald Reilly reviews this new book covering the near-modern history of Freemasonry in England and Wales during the 20th-century.
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Book Review - The EA, FC, MM Handbooks
Essential reading for every Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft, and Master Mason - these seminal books by J.S.M Ward are what every Mason needs!
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Book Review - The Freemasons who won America's War for Independence
Find out who were the Freemasons who won America's War for Independence
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Book Review - Black Freemasonry: From Prince Hall to the Giants of Jazz
A book review of Black Freemasonry: From Prince Hall to the Giants of Jazz by Cécile Révauger
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Book Review - Cagliostro the Unknown Master
The book review of the Cagliostro the Unknown Master, by the Editor of the book
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Book Review - Crime and the Craft
Crime and the Craft reveals that the Freemasons have been involved in treason, murder, conspiracy, fraud, and scandal from the time of the English Civil War to the 1980s.
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Book Review - Focus on Ric Berman
Focus on Ric Berman a British historian who writes about the intersection of freemasonry, politics and society.
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Book Review - The Temple That Never Sleeps
Freemasons and E-Masonry Toward a New Paradigm
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Book Review - The Secret School of Wisdom
The Authentic Rituals and Doctrines of the Illuminati is a pioneering text
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Book Review - Charles Warren: Royal Engineer in the Age of Empire
Sir Charles Warren, the Police Commissioner who failed to catch 'Jack the Ripper'
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Book Review - Freemasonry and the Press in the Twentieth Century
During the latter part of the twentieth century, the Press and Freemasonry had a tense relationship.
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Book Review - Who was Hiram Abiff?
Every Freemason must have at some point asked himself the above question.
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The Masonic Book Club (MBC)
The new MBC will have a different business model than the old.
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Book Review - Jesse James and the Lost Templar Treasure
Lost Templar Treasure: Secret Diaries, Coded Maps, and the Knights of the Golden Circle
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Book Review - The Enigma of the Royal Arch
Holy Royal Arch What's it all about
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Book Review - The Craft
Review of the new book The Craft by John Dickie, Professor of Italian Studies at University College London
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Book Review - For Hills and Valleys
For Hills and Valleys, Mobile Schools and Republicanism in the Zêzere Valley By Aires Henriques
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33 and Beyond: The Royal Art of Freemasonry
33 & Beyond: The Royal Art of Freemasonry, is perhaps the most fascinating and important documentary ever made on the on the subject matter of Freemasonry.
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Book Review - History of Freemasonry in Bessarabia
Book review by guest reviewer Gheorghe Bichicean on the History of Freemasonry in Bessarabia by Alexandru Rufanda
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Game Review - On The Square
A new board game based on The Freemasons
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dvd review
A MIGHTY GOOD MAN / THE TRUE STORY OF THE ROSICRUCIANS (double dvd)
A drama-documentary of the life of Elias Ashmole including a reconstruction of the first personally recorded Free Masonic Initiation into a Lodge anywhere in the world.
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Prestonian Lecture 2020/21
This year's Prestonian Lecture - ‘A System of Morality – Aristotle and the Making of the Ritual’ - is authored, and presented by Professor G.R. Boys-Stones PAGDC.
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The Lost Keys of Freemasonry
Introduction to The Lost Keys of Freemasonry by Manly P. Hall
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Book Review - History of the Grand Orient of Italy
In depth book review in to the History of the Grand Orient of Italy by the author
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Book Review – Freemasonry It's Hidden Meaning
Youtube Book review by Baruti KMT-Sisouvong
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