In search of the Indo-Europeans : language, archaeology, and myth

With the skill of a forensic scientist, Dr. Mallory traces the immediate origins of each of the Indo-European peoples of Europe and Asia. By comparing their languages he demonstrates their common cultural heritage, and through the technique of comparative mythology he examines their earliest beliefs.

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LibraryThing member gwernin

I read almost every page, and enjoyed it. A few slow sections, but Mallory's dry humor helps things along. It's interesting how many recent books still cite this one, 25 years later.

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LibraryThing member lsg

This is a very detailed scholarly work on the subject. It is certainly dry at times, but does an excellent job of bringing in multiple theories and explaining the linguistics and archeology behind them.

LibraryThing member jaygheiser

A broad approach to an interesting but difficult subject. Started out strong, but became progressively less interesting. The discussion of language was very good, the discussion of homeland was OK, and the archeology section at the end was death.

LibraryThing member jen.e.moore

A comprehensive overview of the research about the Indo-Europeans (at least as of 1989 when this book was published - I'll have to do some research to find out if anything major has changed in the past thirty years). Mallory frames his narrative as a search for the Indo-European homeland, and in

the course of determining that, manages to describe pretty well how both archaeological and linguistic research is done, analyzed, and interpreted; and he covers the major sites and the state of the field in his entire area of interest, which would be basically Central, Northern, and Eastern Europe; Anatolia; and western Asia and the southern steppe region, particularly in the millennia or two around 4000 BC. Really, this book is like a mini-survey course all on its own.

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