The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Wordsworth Collection). This item is unavailable.The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Wordsworth Collection)

Sir James George Frazer (1854-1941) is rightly regarded as one of the founders of modern anthropology. The Golden Bough, his masterpiece, appeared in twelve volumes between 1890 and 1915. This volume is the author's own abridgement of his great work, and was first published in 1922. Remarkable for its vast assembly of facts and its charm of presentation, it offers the thesis that man progresses from magic through religious belief to scientific thought. It discusses fertility rites, human sacrifice, the dying god, the scapegoat and many other symbols and practices which have influenced a whole generation of 20th century writers, including D.H. Lawrence, Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot.

J.G. Frazer (1854-1941) was born and educated in Glasgow where he attended University before going to Trinity College Cambridge. In 1871 he became a Classics Fellow at Trinity. He was knighted in 1914. He translated work from the Greek, and wrote fiction but he is best known as a pioneer of social anthropology and comparative ethnography. Although he has many other titles to his name, none were to have the wide-ranging social and imaginative impact of The Golden Bough.