Strange Histories: The Trial Of The Pig, The Walking Dead, And Other Matters Of Fact From The Medieval And Renaissance Worlds

Rating:
Summary: Retro Thinking for the Masses
Review: How can you beat a title like this? It offers a wide range of opportunities to explore the highways and byways of Medieval & Renaissance worldviews. Oldridge offers a unique insight into the how & why our ancestors viewed such transgressions to the social contract of the time, and the complete normalcy of those views. What I found off putting was the rather superficial coverage that is offered to the topics the author selects. I have found other books that explore similar topics with more depth and penache. A welcome addition for the beginning student of historical oddities library. The style of this book is scholarly in a Master's thesis sort of way with an odd forced sense of humor that is not welcomed. It lacks the immediacy needed to communicate why we did & do the things we do as human beings. In the final analysis- we are still creatures of absurd superstitions & prejudices. One is left to wonder if evolution goes beyond mere biology?