The history of Freemasonry is inextricably linked with many outstanding personalities, including Winston Churchill and Walt Disney, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Shaquille O'Neal, Benjamin Franklin and Buzz Aldrin, Giuseppe Garibaldi and Arthur Conan Doyle, Henry Ford and Cecil Rhodes, Rudyard Kipling and Buffalo Bill. Founded in London in 1717 as a body around character-building ideals, Freemasonry spread throughout the world within two decades. Under George Washington, it created the worldview of the American nation; Masonic networks held the British Empire together; under Napoleon, Masonic lodges became a tool of authoritarianism, and then a cover for a revolutionary conspiracy. Freemasonry owes its origins to the Mormon Church and the Sicilian Mafia. Today there are 400,000 Freemasons in the UK, over a million in the US, and around six million around the world. Professor John Dickie's book is a fascinating study of a movement that not only helped shape modern society, but continues to have significant influence .