The foundational work on shamanism from an influential historian of religion
Shamanism is an essential account of this mysterious and fascinating phenomenon. The founder of the modern study of the history of religion, Mircea Eliade surveys the shamanic tradition through two and a half millennia of human history, moving from Siberia and Central Asia-where shamanism was first observed-to North and South America, Indonesia, Tibet, China, and beyond. This authoritative account illuminates the magico-religious life of societies that give primacy to the figure of the shaman-at once magician and medicine man, healer and miracle-doer, priest, mystic, and poet. Synthesizing the approaches of psychology, sociology, and ethnology, Shamanism is an essential study of an important practice. Mircea Eliade (1907–1986) was the Sewell L. Avery Distinguished Service Professor of the History of Religions at the University of Chicago. His books include Images and Symbols, The Myth of the Eternal Return, and Yoga (all Princeton). Wendy Doniger is the Mircea Eliade Distinguished Service Professor Emerita of the History of Religions at the University of Chicago. Her books include The Hindus and The Ring of Truth. "Eliade writes of the shamans with [a] masterly combination of sympathy and detachment."-New York Times Book Review
"A close and detailed yet comparative study of shamanism. . . . [It] has become the standard work on the subject."-Times Literary Supplement
"Clearly the best work on Shamanism published so far."-Review of Religion
