P. G. Maxwell-Stuart

This was an interesting and informative read, though I did find myself wading through academic sentences and rereading paragraphs a fair bit (mostly because the pseudoscientific jargon and methodology is traditionally and deliberately hard to follow). Maxwell-Stuart is very thorough, covering Asian, Islamic, and Western alchemies and citing everything from alchemic manuals to plays to paintings to build his history.

My biggest critique is that, though Maxwell-Stuart dedicates a chapter each to Ancient China, to India, and to the Islamic world, he doesn’t trace those alchemic traditions through to the present day, the way he does with the West. I find it hard to believe that there aren’t still people in Asia interested in transmutation or natural healing or the spiritual sides of alchemy, or that Maxwell-Stuart couldn’t find documents or testimony related to that, given how keen he is to trace Western alchemy into the early parts of the twentieth century. Instead, he just kind of sets the stage for the next tradition and moves on.

Overall, though, Maxwell-Stuart’s done a good job of tracing the history and presenting the evidence for historical continuity, and of explaining the beliefs and jargon the best anyone can. I learned a lot, it gave me a new lens to view early modern secret societies, early chemistry, and Edwardian spiritualism, and I think reading this helped me plug a plot hole to boot. It’s definitely a good book but not one I’m likely to recommend to many people, because the subjct’s kind of niche.

Warnings: Nope.

8/10… (más)

from st peter to benedict xvi and everyone in between, 19 Jan. 2011

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This review is from: Chronicle of the Popes: The Reign-by-Reign Record of the Papacy from St Peter to the Present (Chronicles) (Paperback)
Excellent work, lots of b/w and colour illustrations throughout. It's not just of interest to Catholics, as the papacy had such an influence on history generally. Thus we read of how Protestantism was encouraged by the excesses seen in the Church at that time (but how Catholicism fought back through the Counter-Reformation.) There are pages on different religious houses, on important names like Thomas Aquinas, on the Crusades, the Avignon papacy and of course details on each pope (real name, nationality, dates etc) Very interesting… (más)

"...The subject of witches and witchcraft in history is something in which I have always been vastly interested, so when I saw this book at a local second-hand shop, I snatched it up. Maxwell-Stuart is a history professor, and I've no doubt that if this is the topic of courses he teaches, I'd want to sit in on his lectures, probably. That is, unless he is one of those professors who assigns books that he's written for the required reading, because I had a hell of a time making it through this one...

...What I had hoped for was more information about the practices mentioned and the witch-hunting professions in general. When I realized it was actually more a series of mini-biographies with a bit of background information on specific cases thrown in, I could have been okay with that, except that Maxwell-Stuart's writing was much too dry to keep my attention for long...

...for the most part, I got pretty bored. I wouldn't recommend this for leisure reading, but it would certainly be an excellent resource if you're a student or professional who is doing research on this subject."

For full review, please visit me at Here Be Bookwyrms on Blogger:

http://herebebookwyrms.blogspot.com/2014/01/witch-hunters-professional-prickers....… (más)

4553. Chronicle of the Popes The Reign-by-Reign Record of the Papacy from St. Peter to the Present, by P. G. Maxwell-Stuart (read 1 Apr 2009) This is a profusely illustrated account of each Pope since St. Peter. Some Popes only get a sentence or two, but the book is quite carefully done, and one cannot say that the author is unfair to any of the Popes. But the book is not as detailed as Popes Through the Ages, by Joseph S. Bruscher, S.J. (read 8 Nov 1959)--that volume gives a page-size picture of each Pope, as well as a page of text for each Pope. I have read lots of papal history--19 volumes by Monsignor Horace Mann and 40 volumes by Pastor, so I can't I say I learned much new but there were things I had not heard before--or had forgotten.… (más)