Perched on the chalk uplands of Salisbury Plain, the megaliths of Stonehenge offer one of the most recognizable outlines of any ancient structure. Its purpose--place of worship, sacrificial arena, giant calendar--is unknown, but its story is one of the most extraordinary of any of the world's prehistoric monuments.

Constructed in several phases over a period of some 1500 years, beginning in 3000 BC, Stonehenge's key elements are its "bluestones," transported from West Wales by unexplained means, and its sarsen stones quarried from the nearby Marlborough Downs.

Francis Pryor delivers a rigorous account of the nature and history of Stonehenge, but also places the enigmatic monument in a wider cultural context, bringing acute insight into how antiquarians, scholars, writers, artists-and even neopagans--have interpreted the mystery over the centuries.