The Triumph of the Moon

A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft

By: Ronald Hutton

Narrated by: Bruce Mann

Length: 28 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

Ronald Hutton is known for his colorful, provocative, and always exhaustively researched studies on original subjects. This work is no exception: the first full-scale scholarly study of the only religion England has ever given the world, that of modern pagan witchcraft, which has now spread from English shores across four continents. Hutton examines the nature of that religion and its development, and offers a microhistory of attitudes to paganism, witchcraft, and magic in British society since 1800. Village cunning folk and Victorian ritual magicians, classicists and archaeologists, leaders of woodcraft and scouting movements, Freemasons and members of rural secret societies, all appear in this book. Also included are some of the leading figures of English literature, from the Romantic poets to WB Yeats, DH Lawrence, and Robert Graves, as well as the main personalities who have represented pagan witchcraft to the world since 1950.

©1999, 2019 Ronald Hutton (P)2021 Tantor

Horrible narrator

I can't even say whether or not I like the book's content because the narration is so bad that it's hard to understand what is being said. This book is read in a very slow, robotic, monotone voice. It is horrible.

I can't listen to this monotone robot narrator.

I REALLY want this book in audio version, but I can't listen to this guy. Guess this is one way to sell more copies. Seriously though, who let him read this? Hel, I would do better for free lol!

Fine book, terrible reader

A useful and informative book by Ronald Hutton, free of sensationalism.

The reader is monotonous.

Good book split by the narrator.

The narrator was soooooo dull. Please re-record this and it would be such a more interesting listen.

Very monotonous

There was absolutely no inflections or feeling throughout the reading. I could not finish listening to the book.

A Fascinating Book; Lackluster Reading

For all interested in the history of British paganism and ceremonial magic after 1800, there is no better book of which I know that can present the story and analysis of these subject’s than Prof. Hutton’s “The Triumph of the Moon.”

Regrettably, the reader of this book does not do justice to the work’s very interesting and extensively researched content. His voice is flat, mechanical, and oddly monotone. However the content of the book is worth enduring such a lackluster performance.

not a fan of the voice used

struggling to keep interested with the narrator used. he doesn't seem to care about what he is reading and sounds a lot like a robot

Deep dive into pagan witchcraft

Cogent, excellent writing and analysis. This is a long book with detailed and comprehensive coverage and extensively documented. For those willing to make the effort well worth it. Very informative.

Comprehensive and engaging

This history is a layered, textured, and engaging story of a religion that few outsiders understand. For those interested in the history of modern religions or pagan witchcraft, a must read or listen. IMO the narrator here is perfect for this material.

the worst narrator.. ever.

extremely robotic voice.. ruined such a cool book for me... I've tried... really...lasted 30-40Mins... please change the narrator, for someone, who can read...
not just say words ...

Ruined by Narrator

I have no idea if this is a good book as the narrator killed it for me. This "narrator" doesn't actually narrate the book - he just speaks each word in one long monotone. Grab anybody off the street and ask them to read the book out loud and they will do just as good or better a job. I am asking for a refund as I cannot understand how audible can use such a robotic narrator.

Great book, bad voice, listen audio sample first.

Apologies to the narrator, I respect workmanship and those who do, but this narration is uncomfortable to listen too.
The book I’ve read in the past and was excited intellectually to find it as an audiobook so I could illustrate and work while listening to this educational and thoroughly detailed work on the world of the birth and growth of modern witchcraft.
In-depth and eye opening, gripping and weaves the events of history, peoples & Druids, traditions, folklore into historical practice of villages, farms and country folk with the new birth of witchcraft and how history was adopted as a magical DNA. The ancestors may or may not agree with how the modern world has claimed it’s craft as a valid inheritance true to the ancient ways. The triumph of the moon is a valid and constructive assesment of the validity of this claim, a concise and fascinating study of the reality while remaining respectful and true to Ronald Huttons fascination and respect of the occult. Academic as well as readable by the practitioner and interested alike.
Narration, I found this audiobook unlistenable due to the narrator, I have the book in the physical, I turned to a text reader to listen to the book previously and after trying with this erosion from audible I returned to the text reader app on my iPad.
As I stated I prefer not to be negative in any situation, but I have to be honest as well, I’ve tried repeatedly to listen to this audiobook and have only kept it and not returned it as I respect the work done to write this level of quality which stands above and beyond the flood of teenage witch books and weak watered down or over repeated from book to book faults and make believe magic.
I’m a practitioner of old practice, from which I studied history, from prehistory through Neolithic and up to today, remaining as close as possible to the archeological and anthropological evidence. With this I interpreted my personal experience and learning from a living country practice to enhance that academic study. So i am pro witchcraft and recommend this book as a valid education for those who want to sort the wheat from the chaff. Please listen to the audio sample first, if put off then please consider purchasing the physical book which is very much worth the price. Sorry Prof Hutton, great book but why this choice of narrator, I don’t understand it, there’s so many good voice actors out there who can add emphasis and relevance in tone in the right places, this is just terribly hard to listen to and awkward to follow, which means what is being read is lost.
Blessings to all those with goodness at heart.
D

Terrible narrator

Great book. But the narrator is so bad its impossible to listen to. Try and read it because this is dreadful on audio

disappointed

This book was a great idea but unless you have a master's degree in English grammar your going to struggle. I found the book very hard to follow. sorry had to give up to save my sanity. Dodger the elder

The reader is insufferable

Triumph of the Moon is a wonderful book, but the narrator is monotonous and makes it impossible to listen to this audiobook. I had to check it was a computer generated voice. Do yourself a favour and buy the paper version..

terrible narration

This is the poorest narrated audiobook I've purchased. it's impossible to listen to. the book is good and I wanted to be able to listen to it but it's impossible to follow, so I can't honestly rate the story. I couldn't work out if it was AI read for awhile, it sounds robotic, but Google tells me the narrator is a real person. Each line has strange intonation, as if the narrator isn't listening to what they're saying.

Fascinating but arduous

The subject matter is fascinating and the writing is satisfyingly precise and measured. This book is a much needed précis on an elusive topic. Unfortunately the narration is gruellingly flat. Which is a shame, and below the actor's normal standard.

Draw of the story overcomes robotic narrator

I nearly didn't listen to the audiobook after reading the reviews and listening to the extract. But I am very glad I did. Yes, the narrator has a very robotic and muted delivery that is distracting at first, but the book is so engaging that after a few chapters I forgot the narrator and was entirely drawn in to the book. If you are interested in the story of the origins of modern witchcraft, this book is an absolute must.

A wealth of knowledge

I've seen some negative comments about the narrator and, although I understand where they are coming from, I have to say that I wholeheartedly disagree. the narration of the book was so clear and easy to understand that it added to it in my opinion and that's no easy task because the author has covered so much in this book making it well worth the commitment.