Q WHEN WAS MASONRY HISTORY NOT LITERARY A NEVER

The history of Masonry is more akin to that of the ancient Greeks than it is to a country.  To paraphrase Bertrand Russell, masonic history is an account of about men on their paths to understand the world. We have not yet turned our inquiry on man himself.  We explore theft, adultery and deceit through the examination of values and principles.  As historiographers cover a wide range.  The narrative can hardly be called history- more a story about history salted with some identifiable facts.  Until masonry, this type of history was told in poetry. It isn't at all a critical travel guide- being self-consciously aimed.  This avoids being in poor taste.  However this uniqueness leaves the reader with two views;  first, there are gaps to be filled by academicals and second, the customs, manners and geography is literary. Masonic history is a literary art.  In M-history the subject and its audience are one- generously telling us what is revealed by our human past: tell us about ourselves.  Of course, it reads differently than analytical history. If not for the clumsiness of the comparision, writers are at the business of religious history with a passing notice to scientific history.