The Hungarian ethnologist Vilmos Dioszegi (1923-1972), well-known for his research on Siberian shamanism, wrote many articles and studies which have never been collected in a single volume. Most of these studies appeared in foreignlanguage journals published by Akademiai Kiado (Ethnographica, Acta Ethnographica, Acta Orientalia, Folia Ethnographica, etc.). The present selection, a reprint edition of these writings, attests to Dioszegi's range of interest and is representative of his oeuvre. It contains studies on Mongolian and Nanai shamanism. Another interesting study deals with the ethnogenetic aspects of Darkhat shamanism and the symbolic significance of a few tipical Evenki shamanic objects such as the mask and the staff. Still other studies describe the three-grade amulets of the Nanais, the healing songs of shamans, the sacrificial songs of Altaic Turks, and the pre-Islamic shamanism of Baraba Turks. Dioszegi's last comprehensive study on Siberian shamanism, written for the Encyclopaedia Britannica, introduces the volume.

The reproduction of the many pictures Dioszegi used to illustrate these studies give the volume an outstanding quality enhancing its value for those interested in shamanism, for researchers, historians of religion, social anthropologists, and folklorists.