Richard Jasnow Knihy

American roots muscic is not a product of an elite leisure class, as some academics contend, but of explosive creativity among slaves, hillbillies, fieldhands, drunks, slackers, and hucksters. Yet these poor, working-class people, built the foundations of jazz, gospel, blues, bluegrass, rock 'n' roll, and country music, an unparalleled burst of invention. This is the counterfactual to the academics' story. Manning takes us down a long, strange path, following music to deeper understandings of racism, slavery, inequality, meditation, addiction, the science of our brains, and ultimately to an enticing glimpse of pure religion.

The “Book of Thoth” is preserved on over forty Graeco-Roman Period papyri from various collections, with the primary manuscript housed in the Berlin Museum. Written mainly in Demotic script, it likely originated from the temple scriptorium known as the “House of Life.” The composition features a dialogue between a deity, referred to as “He-who-praises-knowledge” (presumably Thoth), and a mortal, “He-who-loves-knowledge.” Topics include the scribal craft, sacred geography, the underworld, wisdom, prophecy, animal knowledge, and temple rituals. Notably, the “Vulture Text” section identifies each of Egypt's 42 nomes with a vulture. The language is poetic, with verses clearly organized. The dialogue structure and distinctive phrasing raise intriguing scholarly questions, particularly regarding connections to the classical Hermetic Corpus, where Hermes Trismegistos is central. The first volume features interpretative essays and discussions on manuscript tradition, script, and language, alongside the transliteration of the Demotic text, translation, and commentary. It concludes with a consecutive translation, glossary, bibliography, and indices. The second volume includes photographs of the papyri, most of which are presented at their original size.