Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft by Ronald Hutton ISBN: 0-19-285449-6 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: 01 April, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.35 (57 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: The first *real* history of Wicca
Comment: I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It will give you all the details on how Wicca came to be created in the mid-twentieth century, based on literary, artistic, and academic fashions, the practices of fraternal orders and occult societies, old and new folk customs, and other cultural roots (real and imagined) going back to the 1700s. Hutton leaves no hope for those who wish to believe in a constantly existing Pagan religion in Britain or in a connection between the early modern witch trials and Paganism. No one can claim to be knowledgeable about the true history of modern Witchcraft who has not read and carefully studied this text.
This meticulously documented book pounds the final nails into the coffin of the claims Gardner made (and others inflated) that Wicca was an ancient surviving British Pagan religion of Witchcraft. None but the most stubbornly fundamentalist of Orthodox Wiccans can deny it any longer, though I'm sure they will continue to try, as a few of the negative reviews here demonstrate.
Hutton's work supports and amplifies the research into Wiccan history that I and other modern writers have done over the last thirty years. Indeed, the chapter in my new eBook ("Witchcraft: A Concise History") on Gerald Gardner and the birth of Wicca owes a great deal to his clear exposition of complex details.
Every Wiccan should have this book on their shelves.
Rating: 5
Summary: An excellent historical perspective
Comment: Hutton has written a book that truly needed to be written, unlike the vast majority of texts on the history of modern pagan witchcraft, for and against. In essence, Hutton isn't for or against; he's an historian. This approach may well annoy those looking for support for their beliefs, of course, but for those interested in a dispassionate account, this is the book to buy.
Hutton really starts with the eighteenth century, with Masonry, "cunning men", and other magic-workers of various kinds. He discusses these folks as sources for the later witchcraft revival, and gives his sources scrupulously. He then moves on to the nineteenth-century "occult revival", which is only rather sketchily handled, and to Gardner and the whole complex from which he arose.
Next, Hutton discusses Gardner in considerable detail, considering the whole "Dorothy Clutterbuck" problem and the whole complex of the first Wiccan covens. It seems not unlikely that this discussion will infuriate those who don't want to think of Gardner as a spiritual ancestor for their modern practices. At the same time, it's likely to tick off those would-be "debunkers" who want a lurid account of Gardner the evil sex-maniac. Overall, I found that Gardner came off rather sympathetically, which surprised me.
For me, the best thing about the book is the discussion of the extension of Wicca past Gardner's own influence. For example, I tend to associate the rise of Neopaganism with liberal politics, given the strong affiliations with the rise of feminism, ecological activism, and a kind of back-to-the-earth approach to collapsing the modern military-industrial dominance of (especially) American economics and politics. But Hutton demonstrates that in the first half of the century, in England, Wicca was very much a right-wing movement, not entirely divorced from movements like Baden-Powell's Boy Scouts and the Kibbo Kift. The transition from right to left, concurrent with the switch from one side of the Atlantic to the other, is fascinating, and deftly handled by Hutton.
I suppose the book is somewhat dense, if you're not used to mildly academic prose, but by academic standards it's pretty breezy reading. The book is quite accessible, as it is carefully indexed and Hutton makes clear what he's doing and why. If you are interested in a fairly direct, straightforward history of Neopagan witchcraft, this is a great book.
You will hate this book if:
1) You are absolutely certain that Wicca is a surviving ancient pagan religion, continuing underground despite centuries of oppression; or
2) You are absolutely certain that Wicca is a load of nonsense, made up by some foolish sex-crazed women, which offers no spiritual rewards to anyone with half a brain.
You will love this book if:
1) You are willing to read some rather dense, careful historical prose, in a mildly academic style; and
2) You would genuinely like to know a good deal about the ins and outs of the origins of the modern pagan witchcraft revival, and how it has developed over the last century.
Rating: 4
Summary: Excellent work, shame about the typeset.
Comment: This is a veyr detailed and informative history. However the paperback edition has miniscule print on low grade paper, so much so that it is hard to read for a long period of time. I would reccomend getting the hardback. The work itself is great and it's worth paying the extra to be able to read it without needing aspirin on standby.
 |
Title: Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America Today by Margot Adler ISBN: 014019536X Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 March, 1997 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
 |
Title: The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles: Their Nature and Legacy by Ronald Hutton ISBN: 0631189467 Publisher: Blackwell Publishers Pub. Date: 01 November, 1993 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
 |
Title: The Elements of Ritual: Air, Fire, Water & Earth in the Wiccan Circle by Deborah Lipp ISBN: 073870301X Publisher: Llewellyn Publications Pub. Date: 01 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
 |
Title: Witchcraft for Tomorrow (Illustrated) by Doreen Valiente ISBN: 0919345832 Publisher: Phoenix Publishing (WA) Pub. Date: 01 February, 1988 List Price(USD): $12.50 |
 |
Title: Spiral Dance, The - 20th Anniversary : A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Goddess: 20th Anniversary Edition by Starhawk ISBN: 0062516329 Publisher: HarperSanFrancisco Pub. Date: 01 October, 1999 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
