Prudence Jones (1)

Comprehensive but dry. And it has an index.

Dropped and shelved upon reading page 4, the modernist pseudo-religion known as wicca is not a continuation of the ancient European faith and it is not "modern-day paganism".

I LOVE this book. It functions as a 400 page knockout punch to the concept that folk religion is dead in Europe by going section by section through the pagan practices and their lasing impact on the entire continent. Other reviews say this book is too obviously pagan; they are correct. It is probably very obnoxious if you are not pagan. That's blindingly undeniable.

Encyclopedic and sometimes turgid, A History of Pagan Europe nonetheless details some all but forgotten details of pre-Christian life throughout Europe. It also does a good job of describing the battles between Christianity and Paganism for control of the continent. The book simply lacks the sweep, however, of something like The Golden Bough, through which readers interested in the historical transformation of societies would much more profit.