When a friend recommends a book, it makes sense to listen. When he actually gives you the book, it's probably well worth reading. And when that friend is as avid and savvy a reader as Richard E. Fletcher, 33°, P.G.M. of Vermont and Executive Director of the Masonic Service Association of North America, it's a sure bet you're in for a good time. He gave me a copy of the first book this month, and it is a great one!

Chip Berlet & Matthew N. Lyons, Right-Wing Populism in America: Too Close for Comfort. The Guilford Press, New York, softbound, 499 pages, 2000. ISBN 1–57230–562–2, cover price $21.95, order from your favorite bookstore or from the Internet.

Even starting with the admitted fact that the authors are liberals and I am so conservative as to be libertarian, I found this book hard to put down. The title may not seem as gripping as a thriller, but be not deceived—this is riveting. Berlet and Lyons are tracing the history of that attitude found in American culture which distrusts knowledge, education, and rational thought. It is a mindset which loves paranoid imaginings about the "secret, powerful others" who "really run everything" and who "want to keep you from finding out the truth." People with this perspective may be heard on radio programs touting extreme religious or patriotic views. For generations, Freemasonry has been one of the favorite targets of this line of thought. That's one reason I highly recommend you buy and read this book. A glance through the index will bring you many entries for Freemasonry. The authors show how the populist ideal has sometimes led to hatred and fear of the Fraternity because Freemasonry stands for excellence, for personal development, and for the expanding of heart, mind, and compassion. We are, in short, an elite; and populists have always hated and distrusted elites. This book gives a chilling view of American social and political history, the more upsetting because it is so clearly truthful. If you want to understand why things are the way they are and why Freemasonry has been so often attacked, you really need to read this book.

Hugh Young, Masonic Trivia 2.0: Over 600 Questions To Test You and To Learn With—Plus Bonus Pack CD-ROM. Linshaw Enterprises, Inc., $32.95 Canadian + S&H.

Because this CD-ROM is from a Canadian publisher, by far the easiest way to order is to go to the web site www.linshaw.com/mastriv.html and order using a MasterCard® or VISA®. It is a secure site, and by ordering online, you don't have to worry about the exchange rate. Since it takes fewer American dollars than Canadian dollars to purchase the same thing, your actual cost will be less than the $32.95 noted.

This spring I spent some time with our Canadian Brethren at the Spring Masonic Workshop outside Calgary, and I encountered M.W. Brother Young, Past Grand Master of Alberta, who kindly gave me a copy of this clever little CD. It is great fun! Your computer keeps score for you as you try to answer the questions. I say "try" advisedly—this is not the time to show off. The questions are not easy. But the point is to learn, and learn you will. Each question lists the source from which it was taken and, also, the source of the answer. Every question has a graphic or an illustration to accompany it, and these help meet the challenge of finding an answer. Despite the frustration of realizing you have definite gaps in your Masonic knowledge, this CD offers a good, even enjoyable learning experience. You'll come away chastened, but informed. To quote my dear old Dad, "You never learn anything when you're right, only when you're wrong."

If the trivia questions were all that came on the CD, it would be a great value, but there is more, including the books Jewels of Masonic Oratory, Low Twelve, and High Twelve, as well as many graphics, and portraits of famous 18th-century Masons. I put this on the computer in the office, and we all tried it together. It's a fine (if humbling) learning experience.

Jim Tresner is Director of the Masonic Leadership Institute and Editor of The Oklahoma Mason. A frequent contributor to the Scottish Rite Journal and its book review editor, Illustrious Brother Tresner is also a volunteer writer for The Oklahoma Scottish Rite Mason and a video script consultant for the National Masonic Renewal Committee. He is the Director of the Thirty-third Degree Conferral Team and Director of Work at the Guthrie Scottish Rite Temple in Guthrie, Oklahoma, as well as a life member of the Scottish Rite Research Society, author of the popular anecdotal biography Albert Pike, The Man Beyond the Monument, and a member of the steering committee of the Masonic Information Center. Ill. Tresner was awarded the Grand Cross, the Scottish Rite's highest honor, during the Supreme Council's October 1997 Biennial Session.