经济学人下载:共济会会所内幕(2)

In this account, however, Mr Dickie veers away from celebrity biography to focus on the broader membership. His characters are idealists and misfits—political exiles and refugees, traumatised soldiers, addicts who have overcome their vices. Their organisation, says Mr Dickie, is essentially a network of patronage. But he emphasises how many Masons treat its values of friendship, respect, integrity and charity as genuine anchors in their lives, not simply as window dressing for a practical agenda.
然而，迪基先生在自己的书中避而不谈名人传记，转而关注广大会员。他笔下的人物有理想主义者，也有与之格格不入的政治流亡者和难民，还有遍体鳞伤的士兵和戒毒的瘾君子。迪基表示，共济会本质上是一个资助网络。但是他还强调，有很多的美生真正将友谊、尊重、政治和慈善视为自己生活的锚，而不只是视之为实际的议题而装腔作势。

It is tempting to see the Masons as an elite clique of white, male, middle-class gatekeepers. And that has often been true. But the outfit described in “The Craft” is more diverse. In early modern Europe, Mr Dickie writes, the Lodges were among the few places where men from different classes could socialise. The Masons wore (and still wear) gloves during their meetings “so that no Brother can tell the difference between the hands of a Duke and the hands of a dustman”. Slaves were forbidden to join, but several American branches, such as that led by Prince Hall, a black leatherworker from Boston, played a role in the abolitionist struggle. In theory the Masons do not accept females, yet Mr Dickie meets Olivia Chaumont, who in 2007 became the order’s first transgender member.
人们很容易认为美生是由白人、男性、中产阶级把关者组成的精英集团。这也经常会是事实。但是《TheCraft》书中描绘的组成人员要更加多样化。迪基写道，现代早期的欧洲，共济会会所是为数不多的可供来自不同阶级的男性社交的地方。美生们在开会时会带着手套（现在仍然带着），“这样就没有兄弟能够辨别出是公爵的手还是清洁工的手”。奴隶们禁止入内，但是有几个美国分会在废奴主义斗争中发挥了作用，比如说由波士顿的一名黑人皮革工人普林斯·霍尔创立的共济会王子堂。理论上，共济会不吸收女性。但是迪基看到了奥利维亚·乔蒙特这个例外，她在2007年成为该组织的第一位变性会员。

Most books about the Masons speculate on the extent to which they have shaped history. Mr Dickie is more interested in the opposite question. He shows how reactionaries have consistently projected their darkest fears onto the society.
大多数描写美生的书籍都在推测其对历史的塑造程度。迪基却对相反的问题更有兴趣。他在书中展示了反动派是如何不断地将共济会笼罩在最黑暗的恐惧之下。