The History of British Magic After Crowley [Paperback]

Dave Evans (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2007

Both a professional academic researcher and practising magician, Dr Dave Evans delves deeply into modern British history to present a serious, but accessible and fascinating work, based on his recent and unique PhD, on developments in British magic after Aleister Crowley died. Not just the result of extensive book-research, this project involved attending rituals and having meetings with some quite remarkable men and women, who are examined and given a voice in these pages, some of them for the first time. Topics covered include Aleister Crowley and Thelema, How many magicians there actually are in Britain, The claims of Amado Crowley to be Aleister's son, the work of Austin Osman Spare, Kenneth Grant and the Typhonian OTO, Blasphemy, Chaos Magick, Gerald Gardner, Ramsey Dukes, Alex Sanders, HP Lovecraft, Satanism, Cursing, The Left-Hand Path, creating the Journal for the Academic Study of Magic, plus the work of Ronald Hutton, Dennis Wheatley, Dion Fortune, HP Blavatsky and others, all meshed into a broader philosophical, cognitive-psychological and moral-history framework of the broader Twentieth Century. Also includes how Academia deals with studying 'the Weird', and how Academia deals with having Magicians in their ranks in the first place (aka 'Reflexivity'), plus a host of tangential issues including Satan in advertising, Drugs, the Millennium Bug and 'End-Times Fever', Andrew Chumbley, Sex Magick, Inversion and Carnival, Witchcraft, neoPaganism and Wicca, Harry Potter, Breaking Taboos, Sigmund Freud, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, the madness of Montague Summers, Black and White magic, Censorship, how Tolkien and CS Lewis made magical belief the majority view in Britain, Genesis P Orridge, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Thatcherite Politics and Magic, Oscar Wilde and homosexual moral panics, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Satanic Ritual Abuse, Bela Lugosi, messages decoded from a dead squid and the cabbalistic importance of a cat called Tibbles. Not just a book about the history of magic, this research places magicians and their work into the broader society that we all live in, and shows how that magic has always been a part of our culture.

Product Details

• Paperback: 440 pages
• Publisher: Hidden Design Ltd (March 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0955523702
• ISBN-13: 978-0955523700
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,714,451 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good book, possibly the only one of its kind, October 15, 2008

By 

B. Lord - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The History of British Magic After Crowley (Paperback)

Evans makes a valiant attempt at taking an academic and historical look at the modern history of the occult in england. About half of the book is centered around an examination of morality and magick. Evans debunks the idea that magicians (even followers of the so-called "left hand path") are in some way evil or malicious. The rest of the book is divided into a review of the lives of Amado Crowley and Kenneth Grant (along with some debunking of the stories these men have created around themselves) and a brief look at chaos magick. I really enjoyed this book, but it does have its weaknesses. For example, I was disappointed at times with Evans citation of wikipedia as a source of information, and his tendency to cite other unacademic sources as fact when they supported his conclusions. I recommend the book especially for people with a passing interest in the beliefs and (to a lesser extent)the practices of the modern occultist.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Disappointment, May 13, 2010

By 

John Percy "Mithras Sol Invictus" (B.C., Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The History of British Magic After Crowley (Paperback)

I was really disappointed when I got this book. I was looking forward to reading about Kenneth Grant, the Typhonian Current, and other developments after Crowley:
what I got was a very dry, boring read on topics like ethics and anthropology... and less than 40 pages on Magick after Crowley. I would not recommend this book to anyone who is looking for an informative read...it's a waste of money.