The book is about time and place where Catholicism was undoubtedly the religion of Europe, Menocchio harbored unique ideas
about religious doctrine, the teachings of the Catholic Church, and man's purpose. Description of a miller with an intresting ('modern') cosmological belief whose rebellion in thought is prosecuted by the Taliban of that time, the Roman Catholic Church. Forced to explain his nonAristotelian views (and, if Ginzburg is telling the truth, he responded extremely well to the inquisitors' questions!).
The book is very interesting, it deals with the trial of a smart man at the time who was accused of heresy. The miller outwits his arrogant, narrow-minded judges and so wins the reward of torture and imprisonment, losing his wife, family, everything in the end. Galileo, who had a higher social position and powerful protectors, suffered no worse than house arrest, in comparison.
Although some of his many ideas contradict others that he had, he was well-read and surprisingly well-
educated for a man of his station. As Ginzburg says, though, we must look to the Protestant Reformation and the invention of the printing press as being major catalysts for such learning and religious evolution.
What is most important about this book, is that it demonstrates a separation of
culture, call it 'high' culture and 'low' or 'peasant' culture. We follow the great thinkers of the past two millenia from grade school through graduate studies, never fully attempt to delve into a concurrently extant peasant "history of ideas." What Dr. Ginzburg has displayed through this fascinating yet sad tale is that the great thinkers we know of, are a representation of a literate educated class which by no means excludes a secondary ideology which flourished mostly thorugh an oral culture. Dr. Ginzburg seeks merely to bring our attention to this fact and more or less demonstrate the wealth of knowledge and study that has yet to be done in light of the fact. Menochio merely highlights the existance of long standing ideas which otherwise would have been lost to history were it not for "high" society's interest in synchretism. This book is therefore an eye-opener to anyone who believes that the great thinkers speak for everyone and that only they should be reserved for study.Ginzburg leaves the reader wondering how an "un-educated" man could have such complicated ideas
This book presents an interesting case in realistic recreating of history; when the well-documented record of the 16th century Inquisition Trial are brought into scrutiny based on the cultural context of the times. The most fascinating things for me were descriptions of the bookshelf of the 16th century peasant; with so few book which can influence oneself (and for most people it was just one book - a Bible). Unfortunately, the book tends to become more repeatable, looses focus and ultimately my interest. One can sense hesitation of the author - am I really writing a history or fiction; it is not thorough and detailed enough to be history, and narrative development is not exciting enough for it to become very good literature.