I've added another essay to the site (all previous articles can be accessed at any time via the 'Latest Essays' box on the right hand side of the page) - the most recent addition is titled "The Masonic Foundations of America", and looks at the Masonic and Deist influences which shaped the founding of the United States of America. As I point out in my book The Guide to Dan Brown's The Solomon Key (available from Amazon US), this subject looks likely to be explored in the sequel to The Da Vinci Code. It's worth exploring in any case, as it's truly ironic that politics in the U.S. in recent times has been shaped by Christian fundamentalist groups, when the nation was originally founded as a refuge from such ideological thinking.

This essay originally appeared in Issue 3 of Sub Rosa magazine, along with a number of other great articles on various 'alternative' topics - including a brilliant piece from Mark Oxbrow on the real history of Rosslyn Chapel. All issues of Sub Rosa are freely available as a PDF download from the website, so I encourage everyone to go download Issues 1 to 3 for some great reading (Issue 4 is due out in March).