Name: The History of British Magic After Crowley
ISBN: 9780955523700

Dave Evans

Both a professional academic researcher and practicing magician, Evans delves deeply into modern British history to present a serious but accessible and fascinating work based on developments in British magic after Aleister Crowley died.

The History of British Magic After Crowley

Tim Pendry

I felt a little bad about an earlier review because, honest though it was, it did not do justice to two aspects of the book. First, that Evans was very courageous in tackling the subject and, second, that it was not entirely his fault that he was ill-served by weak editing. Similarly, to complain about his being too personal misses the point - he has tried (I think failed) to develop a new language of academic engagement but I really do applaud the attempt which is worth a lot more than the vast majority of dry tomes produced out of PhDs that add little to the sum of real knowledge. What I would like to see is Evans do this in reverse - write a personal book on magic in which he deals with the issues of charlatanism, engagement and belief without trying to prove himself to academic judges. That is the book I think he should have written. Now I let the original review stand, recommending that (in fact) it is bought and read ... preferably from Treadwells! The original review was:- "Christina Oakley Harrington of Treadwells calls this a 'romp' and an oft-entertaining romp it is - but it is not as much of a history as Evans might claim. It is too long, too poorly edited and too personal and there is no real overview of how this curious sub-culture emerged when and how it did. Nevertheless, it is not without value and it does contain important new research, but I read it in the end more as an aide to a thoughtful exploration of how the techniques of this community can be distilled from what can only be described as the charlatanism and trickery of some of its alleged leaders. For those genuinely interested in this area, this is worth reading but the subject awaits its Ronald Hutton."

The History of British Magic After Crowley

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