Audiobooks Narrated by Gary Paul Williams

Queens of the Wild: Pagan Goddesses in Christian Europe: An Investigation

A concise history of the goddess-like figures who evade both Christian and pagan traditions, from the medieval period to the present day In this riveting account, renowned scholar Ronald Hutton explores the history of deity-like figures in Christian Europe. Drawing on anthropology, archaeology, literature, and history, Hutton shows how hags, witches, the fairy queen, and the Green Man all came to be, and how they changed over the centuries. Looking closely at four main figures-Mother Earth, the Fairy Queen, the Mistress of the Night, and the Old Woman of Gaelic tradition-Hutton challenges decades of debate around the female figures who have long been thought versions of pre-Christian goddesses. He makes the compelling case that these goddess figures found in the European imagination did not descend from the pre-Christian ancient world, yet have nothing Christian about them. It was in fact nineteenth-century scholars who attempted to establish the narrative of pagan survival that persists today.

Ronald Hutton (Author), Gary Paul Williams (Narrator)

Audiobook

Play Sample Listen For Free

Violence: A Very Short Introduction

Violence is part and parcel of human history and of human nature. It is one of our most distinctive traits, the one thing that all cultures and societies, across time, share in common. It has defined not only the ways in which individuals relate to each other, but also how collective entities and states have interacted with each other over the millennia. All societies are violent and all individuals have the capacity for violence. However, not all societies and not all individuals are equally violent, and nor does violence exist with the same intensity across cultures. This Very Short Introduction examines the more visible, physical acts of violence-interpersonal, gendered, collective, religious, sexual, criminal, and political-in the modern world. It explores how violence in the pre-modern world was different from the modern world, and what is significant about those differences. It also discusses what violence is by examining understandings of the ideas, values, and cultural practices embedded in an act of violence, and considering acts of violence as the outcome of a process dependent on the cultural context in which they take place. Along the way Dwyer considers some core questions, asking whether violence is always 'bad', and if there are any limits to human violence? And, are we becoming more or less violent?

Philip Dwyer (Author), Gary Paul Williams (Narrator)

Audiobook

Play Sample Listen For Free