In Shamans through the ages Jeremy Narby and Francis Huxley trace the evolution of modern thought in its endeavor to understand the ancient knowledge of shamans throughout the world; from Asia and Australia to Africa and the Americas. Who were these singular men and women who imitated the sounds of animals in the dark, took hallucinogenic substances and wore necklaces full of poisonous ants? Through a series of testimonies and accounts of missionaries, explorers, historians, shamans and anthropologists, this book chronicles the evolution of the Western vision of the Other and the unknown. From that missionary who, on his trips to Brazil in 1557, witnessed the strange behavior of those he described as "devil's shepherds", to the German-American anthropologist Franz Boas who, in 1887, wrote that "the Eskimo is a man like us and their emotions, virtues and defects are based, like ours, on human nature. " Shamans through the ages is at the same time a revealing story of the birth of an extraordinary field of research -which, in its moment, affirmed that the study of human beings could be a science-, as a history of the evolution of those anthropologists who have managed to cross the line that separates the observer from the participant. With five hundred years of testimonies of shamans from all over the world, this text constitutes a journey not only through time but also through space. An essential work for anyone interested in shamanism, which includes articles by such renowned thinkers as Claude Lévi-Strauss, Michael Harner or Carlos Castaneda.