This exploration of the remarkable people and influential activities of the Knights Templar and Freemasonry is truly stunning. It sheds considerable new light on how the practices, symbols and rituals of these two brotherhoods took shape and affected the world around them. "Born in Blood" began this work before its author passed away in 1996. Now historian Sanford Holst has gathered many more discoveries and internal documents that give a deeper look into the workings of the Templars and Freemasons. The roots of Masonry are traced to Solomon's Temple, the rise of Christianity, and the Crusades, causing this society's relationships with stonemasons and the Templars to take on new and significant meaning. We come to see how actions by Templars and Masons affected the fall of kings in Europe, the rise of democracy, and the Vatican's loss of its supreme position atop the Christian world. After Masonry emerged into public view in 1717, it had a strong influence on George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and other Masons who worked to create a new country in America. These experiences are often seen through the eyes of people who lived through the actual events -- told in their own words and drawn from remarkable collections of records dating from those times. A tantalizing question is asked: what practices among the Templars and Masons still affect our lives today? This well-documented look inside the secretive Templar and Masonic societies provides answers that may surprise you.