Pagan History

Ronald Hutton is known for his colorful, provocative, and always exhaustively researched studies on original subjects. This work is no exception: the first full-scale scholarly study of the only religion England has ever given the world, that of modern pagan witchcraft, which has now spread from English shores across four continents. Hutton examines the nature of that religion and its development, and offers a microhistory of attitudes to paganism, witchcraft, and magic in British society since 1800.

In 1972, Martha "Marty" Goddard volunteered at a crisis hotline, counseling girls who had been molested by their fathers, their teachers, their uncles. Soon, Marty was on a mission to answer a question: Why were so many sexual predators getting away with these crimes? By the end of the decade, she had launched a campaign pushing hospitals and police departments to collect evidence of sexual assault and treat survivors with dignity. She designed a new kind of forensics tool—the rape kit—and new practices around evidence collection that spread across the country.

Russia is a country with no natural borders, no single ethnic group, no true central identity. At the crossroads of Europe and Asia, it has been subject to invasion by outsiders, from Vikings to Mongols, from Napoleon’s French to Hitler’s Germans. In order to forge an identity, it has mythologized its past to unite its people and to signal strength to outsiders. In A Short History of Russia, Mark Galeotti explores the history of this fascinating, glorious, desperate, and exasperating country.

This two-volume history of the supernatural, first published in 1863, is a staggering feat: extending his work across almost a thousand pages, William Howitt attempts to describe the engagement with the supernatural in all ages and all parts of the world in order to identify a common link between them. Howitt (1792-1879), a well-known writer in his day, published over 50 books in his lifetime, some in collaboration with his wife, writer and translator Mary Howitt. His interest in the supernatural was precipitated by the untimely deaths of two sons.

This two-volume history of the supernatural, first published in 1863, is a staggering feat. William Howitt attempts to describe the engagement with the supernatural in all ages and all parts of the world in order to identify a common link between them. Howitt (1792-1879), a well-known writer in his day, published over 50 books in his lifetime, some in collaboration with his wife, writer, and translator Mary Howitt.

The fifth book by Carole Carlton in the Mrs Darley series finds the ever likeable and enigmatic Mrs Darley leading the author further along her magickal path, as she reveals some of the Pagan secrets that underpin the workings of real, divine magick. The word magick evokes an air of mystery, wonder and excitement - but can it really be as simple as waving a wand and chanting a spell? In truth, the practice of magick is far more complex than we might imagine, requiring the practitioner to be both disciplined and dedicated.

Although many have heard of the Crusades and some of the more famous orders like the Templars, few know about the Livonian Crusade or the Livonian Brothers of the Sword. This organization was one of many Catholic military orders that sprung up during the Middle Ages in response to the papacy’s call for holy war, and the Livonian Crusade is the term used to group together dozens of military actions undertaken by German knights in Eastern Europe. The order was also significant for consolidating the power of the Holy Roman Empire in Eastern Europe.