具体描述
The only comprehensive, single-volume survey of magic available, this compelling book traces the history of magic, witchcraft, and superstitious practices such as popular spells or charms from antiquity to the present day. Focusing especially on Europe in the medieval and early modern eras, Michael Bailey also explores the ancient Near East, classical Greece and Rome, and the spread of magical systems_particularly modern witchcraft or Wicca_from Europe to the United States. He examines how magic and superstition have been defined in various historical eras and how these constructions have changed over time. He considers the ways in which specific categories of magic have been condemned, and how those identified as magicians or witches have been persecuted and prosecuted in various societies. Although conceptions of magic have changed over time, the author shows how magic has almost always served as a boundary marker separating socially acceptable actions from illicit ones, and more generally the known and understood from the unknown and occult.
作者简介
目录信息
读后感
用户评价
Magic was often considered dark and sinister, indeed demonic; yet it was also intriguing and alluring. Learned authorities, even when they did not pursue magical practices themselves, sought to understand their operations.(Introduction)
Magic was often considered dark and sinister, indeed demonic; yet it was also intriguing and alluring. Learned authorities, even when they did not pursue magical practices themselves, sought to understand their operations.(Introduction)
Magic was often considered dark and sinister, indeed demonic; yet it was also intriguing and alluring. Learned authorities, even when they did not pursue magical practices themselves, sought to understand their operations.(Introduction)
Magic was often considered dark and sinister, indeed demonic; yet it was also intriguing and alluring. Learned authorities, even when they did not pursue magical practices themselves, sought to understand their operations.(Introduction)
Magic was often considered dark and sinister, indeed demonic; yet it was also intriguing and alluring. Learned authorities, even when they did not pursue magical practices themselves, sought to understand their operations.(Introduction)
