Freemasonry

Stonemasons' tools, kings' handshakes. The lodge above the lodge is the one that matters.

Fourteen presidents, most of the founders, the Royal Society's first roster — the lodge was the network before networks had a name. Its defenders call it a charity with theater; its accusers note the oaths, the mutual preferment, and the fact that when the Morgan affair cracked it open in 1826, half of American politics turned out to be inside. The handshake is real. What it opens is the argument.