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Review title: Fascinating-but really?
Product review: No bibliography. No footnotes, except his own previous works. Very disappointing from a scholarly perspective. Basis his assumptions on the etymology of place names, etc. Heavy on myths and legends, slides over the scarce few facts we do know about what so-called heretics believed in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. This book muddies the past rather than bringing the Cathers into the light. If a reader wants to search out the myths this is a fascinating read. If a reader prefers accurate knowlege about heretics in medieval southern France, I suggest reading source documents, such as those found in Heresis of the High Middle Ages, by Wakefield and Evans, start with Peter de Bruis and Peter Waldo. Strayer and O'Shea are closer to reality.
