Bonewits's Essential Guide to Witchcraft and Wicca

I believe that one of the most important things that a teacher of the Craft can impart on their students is an understanding of the difference between our mythology and our history. While both are vitally important to understanding where we came from and who we're trying to become, it is a distinction that needs to be made. Many books (too many) claim the created mythology of the “history of modern Wicca” as real history. Bonewits, however, makes the distinction clearly and relatively concisely, in a book that is geared towards non-academics without being “dumbed down”. This is absolutely a book that I would recommend (even require) any of my students to read and seriously think about as a first step into the Craft and paganism. It's a great introduction to the subject, as well as a springboard for more involved texts like Hutton's “Triumph of the Moon”.