Entertaining adventures in esoterica, with some serious side effects.
Reporter’s investigation finds that modern witchcraft, occult practices and mystical lifestyles are reflective of spirituality repressed by the march of science against faith.
Wicker, formerly the religion reporter for the Dallas Morning News, tells how her bestseller, Lily Dale (2003), about a town that has “talked” to its dead for decades, opened the door to multiple, intimate contacts with Americans who seem average in most ways except for their active participation in “magic.” She claims she had no trouble finding “wizards and vampires, Satanists and voodoo priestesses, high magicians and conjurers of the black arts” all over the U.S. Defining belief in magic as a conviction that powers beyond humankind can be obtained and controlled for one’s benefit, the author also points out that Judeo-Christian beliefs do not necessarily exclude it (e.g., Santería, Pentecostal rites). After arguing that a majority of people do, in fact, incorporate magic into their lives in the form of persistent superstitions that often become unconscious acts, the author embarks on an extended tour of the occult—everything from Wiccan covens (in Salem, Mass., natch) and voodoo ceremonies in graveyards to vampire fests and hex shops retailing mojos and kits for casting spells. A reporter’s seasoned skepticism leavens some of the more bizarre events; she notes, for example, that rituals incorporating sex acts in which men are in charge generally do not bode well for women. Eventually, though, a series of personal revelations culminates in an epiphany she has while taking Communion at Westminster Abbey. Wicker returns to her own faith and credits magic with helping her do so. “What we must not do—no matter what the scientists tell us—is allow ourselves to be cut off from our own experience of life as it presents itself.” She adds that it was “no accident” that “Jesus showed up in my dreams during the days when I was most avidly pursuing magic.”
Entertaining adventures in esoterica, with some serious side effects.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2005
ISBN: 0-06-072678-4
Page Count: 288
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2005
BOOK REVIEW
For Howard Zinn, long-time civil rights and anti-war activist, history and ideology have a lot in common. Since he thinks that everything is in someone's interest, the historian—Zinn posits—has to figure out whose interests he or she is defining/defending/reconstructing (hence one of his previous books, The Politics of History). Zinn has no doubts about where he stands in this "people's history": "it is a history disrespectful of governments and respectful of people's movements of resistance." So what we get here, instead of the usual survey of wars, presidents, and institutions, is a survey of the usual rebellions, strikes, and protest movements. Zinn starts out by depicting the arrival of Columbus in North America from the standpoint of the Indians (which amounts to their standpoint as constructed from the observations of the Europeans); and, after easily establishing the cultural disharmony that ensued, he goes on to the importation of slaves into the colonies. Add the laborers and indentured servants that followed, plus women and later immigrants, and you have Zinn's amorphous constituency. To hear Zinn tell it, all anyone did in America at any time was to oppress or be oppressed; and so he obscures as much as his hated mainstream historical foes do—only in Zinn's case there is that absurd presumption that virtually everything that came to pass was the work of ruling-class planning: this amounts to one great indictment for conspiracy. Despite surface similarities, this is not a social history, since we get no sense of the fabric of life. Instead of negating the one-sided histories he detests, Zinn has merely reversed the image; the distortion remains.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1979
ISBN: 0061965588
Page Count: 772
Publisher: Harper & Row
Review Posted Online: May 26, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1979
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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