JOAN OF ARC Heretic, Mystic, Shaman

"[F]ocuses on the aspects of Joan's behavior and society that enabled her, as a woman and an illiterate peasant, to act autonomously and to acquire authority." - American Historical Review

"This fascinating work of feminist scholarship is not a biography. Rather, it is a study of the topics that most reveal Joan as an autonomous woman, a `bad girl' mystic who heard what the church would not approve." - Church History

"Dr. Barstow's work as a whole sheds new light on Joan's elusive persona: certainly she was a medium, as long as she obeyed her voices, and this she did not always do. Joan of Arc: Heretic, Mystic, Shaman is a work one will have to read in order to study Joan. It will be a classic in feminist literature. It will also be controversial." - Mystics Quarterly

"If the nineteenth century gave us romantic, democratic, liberal versions (Mark Twain and George Bernard Shaw) and pious and nationalistic Catholic versions of Joan's story, it is not surprising that the late twentieth century should give us a post-Christian feminist Joan." -Religious Studies Review