Gary Varner has done a service to all folklorists, as well as to witches who base much of their worship on Charles G. Leland's original work, Aradia: Gospel of the Witches. Questions have risen from the moment this work was published in 1899, and much of the present quandary results from the fact that the reading public of today knows next-to-nothing about the expatriot author. Who was this man, and was he truly a respected folklorist and author, even in his own time? How did he assemble the information he used to base his theories on? Did he follow scientific principles in the gathering of this information? Hints of his personality have long been available within most of his published work, but here the curtain is drawn aside and there is no longer any doubt as to this personage.
This book finally gives us a look at the real man, warts and all, and his methodology that allowed him to produce the several books he published over his lifetime. And with this look, we are now able to determine the validity of Leland's work. No reader of any Leland work should be without a copy of this book, in the interest of maintaining one's focus. Thank you, Gary, for a terrific book.
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