When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked The Masks of Orthodoxy as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

The first volume of my book focused on Boston, Plymouth County, and Cape Cod. Benes’ study was essential for providing a larger context for my own account of the stonecutters of this locale. He relied on an analysis of over 4000 gravestones in over 100 burial grounds. He prodded the neophyte (like myself at the time) into considering the more symbolic elements of gravestones, including the perception that headstones and footstones represented the headboards and footboards of the beds in which the deceased were “sleeping.”

His book provided a much-needed reminder of the subtle religious symbolism found on all of…

If you love The Masks of Orthodoxy...

Book cover of December on 5C4

December on 5C4 by Adam Strassberg,

Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!

On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…

Want books like The Masks of Orthodoxy?

Our community of 13,000+ authors has personally recommended 97 books like The Masks of Orthodoxy.

Browse books like The Masks of Orthodoxy

Book cover of Graven Images: New England Stonecarving and its Symbols, 1650–1815
Book cover of Memorials for Children of Change: The Art of Early New England Stonecarving
Book cover of Gravestone Chronicles I: Some Eighteenth-Century New England Carvers and Their Work

Share your top 3 reads of 2026!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

214

readers submitted
so far, will you?

📚 If you like The Masks of Orthodoxy, you might also like...

Book cover of Broken Boots, Redeemed Soul: A Veteran’s War with Sin and Salvation

Broken Boots, Redeemed Soul: A Veteran’s War with Sin and Salvation by Brian Lofton,

Broken Boots, Redeemed Soul: A Veteran’s War with Sin and Salvation, is a raw and faith-centered memoir about life after military service—and the internal battles many never see. Brian Lofton shares his journey through addiction, shame, identity loss, and spiritual distance, revealing how the hardest struggles often begin after…

Book cover of No Color Is My Kind

No Color Is My Kind by Thomas R. Cole,

No Color is My Kind tells the stories of the desegregation of Houston, TX, in 1960, the life of civil rights leader Eldrewey Stearns, and the author's relationship to Stearns.

They met in a psychiatric case conference while Stearns was hospitalized at the University of Texas Medical Branch. After his…

5 book lists we think you will like!