Rating: 
Summary: Eros and Tragic
Review: A painful but very compelling read. Culianu's death has not been solved on either the profane or more importantly,the occult level. The University of Chicago has quite a nefarious reputation starting with the fact that Rockefeller dollars control the place-not to mention it being a hotbed of Ayn Rand-ism amongst other unsavory things. Culianu's death reads more like some kind of ritual sacrifice-of someone who could have shifted the curriculum back to one that affirmed life and its magic instead of negating it into some deadpan charade of statistics and bar graphs. The murder of Professor Culiano represents both symbolically and literally the final demise of esoteric knowledge as a living and vital thing-at least in the academic world. Reading both Culiano's books as well as this one is a start towards a much needed revival. Jaye Beldo: Netnous@Aol.Com
Rating:
Summary: Eros and Tragic
Review: A painful but very compelling read. Culianu's death has not been solved on either the profane or more importantly,the occult level. The University of Chicago has quite a nefarious reputation starting with the fact that Rockefeller dollars control the place-not to mention it being a hotbed of Ayn Rand-ism amongst other unsavory things. Culianu's death reads more like some kind of ritual sacrifice-of someone who could have shifted the curriculum back to one that affirmed life and its magic instead of negating it into some deadpan charade of statistics and bar graphs. The murder of Professor Culiano represents both symbolically and literally the final demise of esoteric knowledge as a living and vital thing-at least in the academic world. Reading both Culiano's books as well as this one is a start towards a much needed revival. Jaye Beldo: Netnous@Aol.Com
Rating:
Summary: Crime, politics, religion and the occult
Review: Culiano taught religious studies at the Divinity School of the University of Chicago--the hand-picked successor to the great Mircea Eliade. Culiano specialized in magic, dualistic heresies and mystical experiences. He practiced what he studied as well, entertaining students and aggravating colleagues. But he also wrote political articles and fiction for a Romanian journal. These got him in trouble with the Romanian secret police; his murder has never been solved. Blending religious studies, occult phenomena, political analysis, and true crime journalism, this book is also an entertaining and intriguing look at Culiano, academics in America, Romanian intellectual traditions. I hope many people read and enjoy it.
Rating:
Summary: Eros and Magic.
Review: If you enjoyed Umberto Eco's _Foucault's Pendulum_, you will undoubtedly enjoy this true life tale of magic, European politics, and murder. The book gives an accounting of the life of Ioan Culianu, a professor of comparative religion at the University of Chicago, from his birth in Romania to his untimely murder. Professor Culianu provided astounding insights into the world of magic and attempted to explain its occurrences through complexity. He published many books on magic, comparative religion, shamanism, and gnosticism. Like Mircea Eliade, a fellow Romanian and his mentor before him, Culianu contributed a great deal to our understanding of religion and magic. He also wrote several novels along with his fiancee Hillary Wiesner. This book provides a look into not only the worlds of Eliade and Culianu, but also a disturbing examination of far-right politics in Romania. Culianu's murder remains unsolved despite its obvious link to his outspoken views on the Romanian revolution which occurred just prior to his murder. However, many disturbing coincidences abound regarding this event.
Rating:
Summary: Eros and Magic.
Review: If you enjoyed Umberto Eco's _Foucault's Pendulum_, you will undoubtedly enjoy this true life tale of magic, European politics, and murder. The book gives an accounting of the life of Ioan Culianu, a professor of comparative religion at the University of Chicago, from his birth in Romania to his untimely murder. Professor Culianu provided astounding insights into the world of magic and attempted to explain its occurrences through complexity. He published many books on magic, comparative religion, shamanism, and gnosticism. Like Mircea Eliade, a fellow Romanian and his mentor before him, Culianu contributed a great deal to our understanding of religion and magic. He also wrote several novels along with his fiancee Hillary Wiesner. This book provides a look into not only the worlds of Eliade and Culianu, but also a disturbing examination of far-right politics in Romania. Culianu's murder remains unsolved despite its obvious link to his outspoken views on the Romanian revolution which occurred just prior to his murder. However, many disturbing coincidences abound regarding this event.
Rating: 
Summary: A wonderful work, combining scholastics and journalism
Review: Normally, when I see a title such as this, I'm a little nervious. It's easy to associate the very worst in yellow journalism with so-called "true crime" novels. So, it was with a bit of apprehension that I picked up _Eros, Magic, & the Murder of Professor Culianu.
The adage, "never judge a book by its cover," can be legitimately applied to this book. From the beginning, I was fascinated by Culianu and his relationships to Mircea Eliade and Romania. Comparative religion is one of my fields of interest, and here is the tragic story of a man who made an incredible impact on that field.
But it's not just the story of one man. Anton skillfully weaves Culianu's ideas throughout, leaving the reader with a feel for Culianu's ideas as well as his life. This is no mean feat. Anton's prose is clean and spare, granting us a clearer view of an incredible thinker.
Rating:
Summary: A True Murder Mystery, by fermed
Review: The shot that killed professor Ioan Culianu while he was sitting in a stall in the men's room came from a small Beretta: a .25 caliber gun, fired at leat 18 inches away from his head, for there were no gunpowder traces around the entry wound. It was the work of an expert, a person who stood on the toilet seat of the adjoining stall, and fired downward and into the back of his head; probably the shot of a left hander. Why only one shot? Why such a small caliber gun? Professionals are more heavy handed, more redundant, more brutal. This was exquisitely done, with minimal fuss and no traceable clues. It was May, 1991, a little after one in the afternoon, at the University of Chicago Divinity School. Prof Culianu, a handsome man in his 40's had three books in press, was about to get married, was loved and respected by students and faculty, and was at the peak of his profession as a historian of religion. His work was recognized internationally, and he could look forward to the honors and comforts of a successful academic career. Ted Anton presents the true tale of Prof. Culianu with deftness and care. It is a story that to this day continues to reverberate in academia and law enforcement because it has never been solved. Far more exciting than fiction, the story of this professor takes turns and dips that keep the reader on edge and breathless.Culianu was an expert not only on the traditional aspects of religions, but had an interest in the occult arts that formed part of the ancient rituals and practices. He was an expert in divination through geomancy, and was about to teach a course in this practice. He gravitated towards the occult. He knew about near death experiences and about the transmigration of souls; and at the same time he maintained his status as a legitimate scholar and teacher in one of America's prestigious universities. Fictional stories about crimes and police work are very enjoyable, but reading a book like this renders the others insignificant by comparison. Of course truth is stranger than fiction, but it is also more exciting, more interesting, and finally...more scary.
Rating:
Summary: Critism on "Eros, Magic, and the Murder of Prof. Culianu"
Review: Thought the title may be misleading, Anton's book about the never-ending quest for knowlage of a very intellectual Prof. Culianu is quite extential. Though he took four years to create it, the detail he shows through the litterary sense is astounding. He paints Culianu's life in such a way that he makes this great scholar's life and breakthroughs in the feild of comparitive religon illuminated to the rest of the world. This is a great work and does the late Ioan Culianu well.
Rating:
Summary: Critism on "Eros, Magic, and the Murder of Prof. Culianu"
Review: Thought the title may be misleading, Anton's book about the never-ending quest for knowlage of a very intellectual Prof. Culianu is quite extential. Though he took four years to create it, the detail he shows through the litterary sense is astounding. He paints Culianu's life in such a way that he makes this great scholar's life and breakthroughs in the feild of comparitive religon illuminated to the rest of the world. This is a great work and does the late Ioan Culianu well.
Rating: 
Summary: Author comments
Review: To me this book is about ultimately the power of telling stories. A major theme in Culianu's life was the degree to which fiction and fact are interchangeable, and the danger that results when they become confused. Ioan Culianu was a young, popular and controversial professor of religion with a focus on the occult; he was loved by many and equally as much hated. The true story of his unsolved campus slaying in 1991 in Chicago takes the reader into a deadly labyrinth of mirrors where one man lost sight of the difference between games and real life
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