ASTROLOGY: From Ancient Babylon to the Present Day [Hardcover]

PG Maxwell-Stuart (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2010

The first major new history of astrology ever published.Comprehensive coverage from the earliest known records from Ancient Babylon (over 4000 years ago), to the present day obsession with horoscopes. Horoscopes are hugely popular today with an estimated 200 million people worldwide regularly reading their horoscope.Author is a respected expert on the occult.Astrology is a means of interpreting the influence which the position of certain heavenly bodies have upon the earth and human beings. The earliest records are those of Babylon, which were designed to help its kings understand the will of their gods. It then became a way of making sense of the world as people saw themselves as integral parts of a vast but puzzling whole. Medicine, politics, religion, the sciences, all had astrology woven into their fabric, and the best minds of the Middle Ages and early modern period engaged themselves in its study.Controversy, however, thereafter hastened its decline as a science until the twentieth century saw its return in the highest circles of the Third Reich and a number of post-war democracies. This book traces astrology's checkered history and notes that modern research suggests it should be taken much more seriously than people usually suppose.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

P. G. Maxwell-Stuart is Senior Lecturer in History at the University of St. Andrews. His other books include Ghosts: A History of Phantoms, Ghouls, & Other Spirits of the Dead ('Scholarly and well-written - a wide ranging account' THES), Witch Hunters ('The lurid tales of orgies and other debauchery told by these individuals still make for shocking reading today' THE DAILY MAIL; 'Based on massive erudition... a learned, informative, at times very subtle book' JAMES SHARPE), Wizards: A History ('An excellent pioneering work... fascinating and entertaining' RONALD HUTTON; 'A fascinating, well-researched and lucid book' THE ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW), Witchcraft: A History ('Combines scholarly rigour with literary flair' THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY), Satan: A Biography (also published by Amberley), The Chemical Choir: A History of Alchemy the Occult in Early Modern Europe, and The Malleus Maleficarum. He lives in St. Andrews.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Amberley; 1 edition (May 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1848681070
• ISBN-13: 978-1848681071
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,391,192 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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