This book, "The Grail", appealed to me because it is attractively produced and designed with some
delightful illustrations of illuminated early texts, and coloured photographs. It was my first attempt to read "a grail " book and yes, I learnt something. The subtitle though of "a secret history" carries the supurfulous word, Secret, why not simply "history". The word "secret" is meant to titilate and suggests that something is hidden, when what the author does is write a history of his efforts to trace theories, research archives and hopefully to find the Grail. He has not found the Grail, though this book is an "interim report" leaving space for further books to join his prolific output ( he has already published 80 books on "Grail studies".

Matthews concedes that there is no evidence that the Grail ever existed in the real world but it is an idea, a dream , a quest and a journey with metaphor and meaning for all who explore life's mysteries. There are so many people looking that this is a veritable industry for the amateur historian and sleuth. The sources for this book all appear to be secondary sources, all in English translation - there are 135 references and the earliest appears to be 1898. I do not see any primary sources or dusty manuscripts or European archives cited. Where are the archaeological records? An example of this psudo scholarship is in the discussion of a 13th century Old French Elucidation de l'hystoire du Graal, but the author relies on the 1899 book by S Evans " In Quest of the Holy Grail" , so there is no knowing whether the 13th century text was actually consulted. There are extensive quotations and they are all acknowledged.

This is a book that takes with great seriousness, that appealing mix of magic, belief, myth , the occult and legend . It is written at a popular level likely to thrill the many enthusiasts of folklore, Arthurian legend , Celtic studies and religious . The voice of the author comes across as honest and considered where he expresses his own opinion. ( )