Gerald Massey's work has become essential for readers seeking a balanced understanding of human origins, religious thought and belief, and the role of Africa in world history. Massey, born in England (1828-1907), was at once a poet, Shakespearean scholar, mythographer and radical Egyptologist, who maintained that Africa was the source for "the greatest civilization in the world." According to Massey, "all evidence cries aloud its proclamation that Africa was the birthplace of the nonarticulate and Egypt the mouthpiece of articulate man." A Book of the Beginnings, first published in 1881 in a limited edition, introduced the public to the author's extensive research that transcended conventional opinion of race supremacy. In volume one, Massey focuses on "Egyptian origins in the British Isles." The implications of Massey's research, which extend far beyond the British Isles, are unveiled systematically through comparative linguistics, symbolism, and mythology. In volume two, Massey explores the African/Egyptian roots o the Hebrews, the Akkado-Assyrians, and the Maori. By linking these diverse cultures and their origins to their African roots, Massey demonstrates not only the extent of African influence, but its permanence as well.