{"product_id":"fairies-a-history-hardback-9781509566778","title":"Fairies; A History (Hardback) 9781509566778","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eFairies\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eA History\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eFrancis Young (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9781509566778, Polity Press\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eHardback, published 20 March 2026\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e352 pages\u003cbr\u003e23.1 x 16 x 3 cm, 0.703 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA \u003ci\u003eProspect Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e 'What to Read This April'\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Young…offers us a complete history of fairy belief, globally and through all recorded time… a feast of data and ideas, delivered with beautiful clarity.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Times Literary Supplement\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"[Young] enjoys an intimate acquaintance with Old World eeriness, and evinces sophisticated understandings of the contradictory ways Christianity has handled vernacular beliefs in entities other than angels and demons. He is rigorous, yet respectful of 'old believers' of all ages and faiths. It is, he reminds us, arrogant to treat Christianity with academic seriousness yet scorn equally plausible or at least sincere folk beliefs.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eSpectator\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Fairies' tenacious refusal to disappear is living history in action.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eProspect Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"This comprehensively researched book covers everything even the most dedicated fairy follower could want to discover.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Critic\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Glorious\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eRod Liddle, \u003ci\u003eTimes\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eRadio\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"An earnest and deeply researched history of ideas\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e Dispatch\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"How did fairies fit into peoples' worldviews? What place did they take within a largely Christian cosmology? Where did they rank among the devils, the angels and the demons? This book is an excellent place to find out.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eUnseen Histories\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Who are the fairies? In this brilliant, ambitious book, Francis Young surveys the fairy question over 2,000 years of European history. With something of the angel about them and something of the wild, fairies were always morally ambiguous. If they seem to have departed, it is not because we know better, but because we have chosen to see differently.\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eJeremy Harte, author of \u003ci\u003eCloven Country: The Devil and the English Landscape\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eFairy Encounters in Medieval England\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"Francis Young offers us a history of fairies from prehistoric godlings to neo-pagan darlings. Particularly interesting is the internationalization of a British reflex of the social supernatural via photography, film, and children's literature. \u003ci\u003eFairies\u003c\/i\u003e proves a worthy successor to Young's earlier and provocative \u003ci\u003eTwilight of the Godlings\u003c\/i\u003e.\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSimon Young, author of \u003ci\u003eMagical Folk: British and Irish Fairies, 500 AD to the Present\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"Dr Francis Young's history of fairies in Europe, the Americas, and Australasia is a richly rewarding journey through folklore, theology, and cultural memory to the present day, tracking the elusive, ever-shifting presence of fairies. A fascinating, comprehensive, and thoroughly enjoyable exploration which invites us to reconsider our perception of the world.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eJo Hickey-Hall, folklorist, author, and host of the \u003ci\u003eModern Fairy Sightings\u003c\/i\u003e podcast\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"There is no shortage of books on fairies, but Young has written a must-read, wide-ranging survey. The book is original in its approach and impressive in its scope. Young shows how fairy history has much to tell us about religion, culture, and the human condition.\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eOwen Davies, University of Hertfordshire\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"A worthy addition to anyone's library.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAlex Hughes, \u003ci\u003eOpen Graves, Open Minds\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"This fascinating and formidably well-researched book has completely changed my view of fairies.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eChurch\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e Times\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eMany people think they know what fairies are, what a fairy looks like, and how a fairy is expected to behave. Francis Young's new history of fairies demonstrates that the truth about belief in fairies is far stranger than clichéd images of tiny figures with wings and wands.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBefore the rise of the 'small winged fairy' in the nineteenth century, the category of fairies included a vast range of supernatural human-like creatures, from the elves of Scandinavia and the aos sí of Ireland to the vilas of the Balkans and the \u003ci\u003efadas\u003c\/i\u003e of Iberia. Young traces the ancient origins of belief in such creatures and how it adapted to the rise of Christianity and then flourished in medieval Europe, before being transformed – but not destroyed – by the upheavals of the Reformation, the Enlightenment, and even European colonial expansion, which made fairies a global phenomenon. He concludes this uniquely wide-ranging history by reflecting on the surprising ways in which fairy belief endures in our apparently disenchanted contemporary world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNo one who reads this brilliant tour through the enchanted pathways of fairyland will ever look at the winged creatures of contemporary popular culture – or the woods at the bottom of their garden – in the same way again.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003ci\u003ePreface\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIntroduction: the fairy-haunted world\u003cbr\u003e1. The hills are alive: sacred nature in ancient Europe\u003cbr\u003e2. Between heaven and hell: monotheism and ambiguous spirits\u003cbr\u003e3. Here be monsters: otherworldly beings in the Middle Ages\u003cbr\u003e4. Founding fairyland: the late Middle Ages\u003cbr\u003e5. The reformation of fairyland: early modern fairies\u003cbr\u003e6. Trying the spirits: fairies and the enchanted Enlightenment\u003cbr\u003e7. Fairies go global\u003cbr\u003e8. The coming (back) of the fairies: the nineteenth and twentieth centuries\u003cbr\u003e9. Rewilding fairyland: fairies today\u003cbr\u003eConclusion\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNotes\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eBibliography\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eSubject Areas: Religion \u0026amp; beliefs [\u003ca title=\"See our other books on Religion \u0026amp; beliefs\" href=\"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/search?q=%22Religion%20\u0026amp;%20beliefs%20%5BHR%5D%22\"\u003eHR\u003c\/a\u003e]\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"Polity","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52458212032792,"sku":"9781509566778","price":19.59,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0730\/2037\/5320\/files\/9781509566778.jpg?v=1785369711","url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/fairies-a-history-hardback-9781509566778","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}