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jonfaith's review
What we have tried to analyze here is not one narrative among many, but the matrix of all possible narratives.
So concludes this Triumph of the Weird. What a Borgesian proclamation! My head spins with the density and erudition displayed in this ethnohistory of an idea, the Sabbath. This was a perfect book to roll around with for two days, discouraged from leaving the house by winter break and true winter weather. So Dr. Ginzburg ponders why Witch Trials all sounded similar across three centuries and throughout Europe. He pokes and ponders, parses and sifts until he finds that mushrooms are the answer. Sorry for the spoiler. Such was disseminated thousands of years ago by the Scythians and their travels both east and west. Throughout which such totems found themselves everywhere in folklore: all ceremony and symbolism trace back to that Eurasian jaunt. I suspect [b:The White Goddess: A Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth|820465|The White Goddess A Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth|Robert Graves|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1311971301s/820465.jpg|219413] is a similar wormhole. One could grow fat and die on the footnotes alone. The elegance of the etymology is worth the price of admission.
So concludes this Triumph of the Weird. What a Borgesian proclamation! My head spins with the density and erudition displayed in this ethnohistory of an idea, the Sabbath. This was a perfect book to roll around with for two days, discouraged from leaving the house by winter break and true winter weather. So Dr. Ginzburg ponders why Witch Trials all sounded similar across three centuries and throughout Europe. He pokes and ponders, parses and sifts until he finds that mushrooms are the answer. Sorry for the spoiler. Such was disseminated thousands of years ago by the Scythians and their travels both east and west. Throughout which such totems found themselves everywhere in folklore: all ceremony and symbolism trace back to that Eurasian jaunt. I suspect [b:The White Goddess: A Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth|820465|The White Goddess A Historical Grammar of Poetic Myth|Robert Graves|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1311971301s/820465.jpg|219413] is a similar wormhole. One could grow fat and die on the footnotes alone. The elegance of the etymology is worth the price of admission.
cmjustice's review
5.0
Not your typical bedtime reader, I'm tempted to lift the effusive accolades from the book's back cover. Instead I'll note it is a densely documented, dissertation on the extreme likelihood of a universal link to ancient cultural ancestory, carrying forward similar mythology, folklore and shamanic themes. Who knew history could be so fascinating? Apparently Carlo Ginzburg.I have never seen the like of his footnotes! He skillfully, gently and with an obvious delight extracts from a veritable academic haystack a needle of truth and erudite conjecture that has me hooked forever on historic research as a hobby. Too late to make it a career. What were they thinking at the Ministry of Education when they created such an abysmal History curriculum? Perhaps my age is showing...