Blood & Mistletoe: The History of the Druids in Britain by Ronald Hutton (PDF)

Description

The acclaimed author of Witches, Druids, and King Arthur presents a “lucid, open-minded” cultural history of the Druids as part of British identity (Terry Jones). Crushed by the Romans in the first century A.D., the ancient Druids of Britain left almost no reliable evidence behind. Historian Ronald Hutton shows how this lack of definite information has allowed succeeding British generations to reimagine, reinterpret, and reinvent the Druids. Hutton’s captivating book is the first to encompass two thousand years of Druid history and to explore the evolution of English, Scottish, and Welsh attitudes toward the forever ambiguous figures of the ancient Celtic world. Druids have been remembered at different times as patriots, scientists, philosophers, or priests. Sometimes portrayed as corrupt, bloodthirsty, or ignorant, they were also seen as fomenters of rebellion. Hutton charts how the Druids have been written in and out of history, archaeology, and the public consciousness for some 500 years, with particular focus on the romantic period, when Druids completely dominated notions of British prehistory. Sparkling with legends and images, filled with new perspectives on ancient and modern times, this fascinating cultural study reveals Druids as catalysts in British history.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐If you are looking for a book that will tell you all there is to know about the Druids the Romans knew, mentioned by Caesar, Tacitus, and Pliny the Elder, you may be disappointed in this and need not continue past the opening chapters. Hutton concludes that the ancient writers’ tales of Druids were compromised by several agendas, and that no archeological finds can be decisively identified as their handiwork. The bulk of Druid belief and practice remain behind the veil of unwritten history, or so he concludes.What you -do- get is an extensive social history of the image of Druids in literature and folk life, concentrated almost entirely on the seventeenth century until today. A particular focus is on the various individuals and secret clubs in England and Wales that have adopted the Druid name or played at being Druids, and the imaginative pageantry and doctrine they created and presented as Druidism. Much of this is quite new and interesting, but it may not be what you came for.

⭐The disturbing aspects of this book are profound. Though from an Oxford scholar, it is rife with illogical opinions, which after being offered, are then exposed, pages later as his opinion.Despite the long standing b***ch that the Romans were essentially meany pants who slandered the Celts, and the Druids too of course, he accepts what he likes about Roman accounts, and rejects as prejudice what he doesn’t like. In several parts of his introduction he adds comments like Pliny sneered when he wrote. But all else aside, when I read this from an historian like this: “At around the same time in the third century, Diogenes Laertius drew up another list of foreign cultures that had allegedly produced philosophers before the Greeks. He, however distanced himself from this hypothesis, attributing it to others; and it was at this point that he provided the reference to Sotion and the pseudo-Aristotle, four hundred years before, that was sited above. He went on to say that those who held this idea also said that the gymnosphistas ( literally ‘naked wise men’) of India and the druidas ‘make their pronouncements by means of riddles and dark sayings, teaching that the gods must be worshipped, and no evil done, and manly behavior maintained’. That last saying has the ring of a triad, a classic literary form used by peoples speaking Celtic languages in the Middle Ages, and so could be an actual translation of a Druidic teaching in Gallic.” Except of course that there is no record of naked druidsGallic being his spelling. The point of the tedious above para, is to demonstrate that Prof. Hutton seems to know nothing of Indo- European studies.I had hopes for this book, but if he knows even less about the Indo-Europeans, their culture, their spread, their linguistic tree, their religious formulas…..than I do, then I cannot recommend this book. I can only warn you against itAnd it was expensive for a Kindle.

⭐The seller is great. Quick delivery, in wonderful condition. The book is good and will help the reader to distinguish fact from fiction regarding society’s generally held beliefs about Druids. Warning, the book is can rather dry and could have been written in about half the pages. I appreciate the lack of hocus pocus that seems to permeate the neo-pegan community. It’s a good starting point to help you sift through other books on the topic and ultimately this was my reason for purchasing it.

⭐This is the most comprehensive book on the history of The Druids available. A masterful and scholarly work which deserves a place of honor on the bookshelves of anyone with a serious interest in British history, paganism or the occult. Highly recommended!

⭐It is wonderful to have such a thorough examination of what we do and do not know about Druids, and I hope modern neo-Druidry will spread this valuable information among its adherents.

⭐Deep enjoyable textual history of accounts of druids from ancient times to the present.

⭐Bought as a gift and recipient loved it.

⭐Fantastic resource, just what I was looking for. Thank you!

⭐Due to a copyright issue, the Kindle edition is not illustrated, and refers the reader to the print edition. Hutton’s text is as lively and interesting as usual, but this is a disappointment. At the time of writing the copyright notice in the sample text is the only place to note this (it isn’t noted amongst the “read more” section).

⭐I love this book, because my husband loves it (whom I bought it for!). It was over a year ago now that he got it, but he has referred back to it many times since reading it in full. There is generally little information available on Druids at all, and this book manages to draw together such a vast array of information, from all sorts of valid sources, so as to compile this extensive and beautiful book with its literary treasures within – a great read, and full of fascinating facts as conversation pieces.

⭐This book was wanted by a relative as a present. He has now got a present

⭐Excellent: thorough, authoritative & highly readable by leading expert in the field. Buy it!

⭐I am a big fan of Ronald Hutton anyway; but this was bought for my moms husband – a practising druid (of many years) who thought the book was great

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