CART: 0 item(s) $0.00Magic and Superstition in Europe: A Concise History from Antiquity to the Present
Series: Critical Issues in World and International History
| By Michael D. Bailey |
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Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. | |||||||||||||||||
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"Michael D. Bailey's Magic and Superstition in Europe: A Concise History from Antiquity to the Present successfully accomplishes the author's expressed aim of convincing readers that magic has always been, and continues to be, an important aspect of European history. Based on an impressive command of the vast (and constantly expanding) scholarship of the history of magic, the book skillfully weaves together seemingly disparate, and chronologically distant, stages in the history of Europe's magical traditions into intrinsically related parts of a coherent, comprehensive narrative. It should be welcomed as a masterful survey of major trends in European intellectual and religious history, explored through the prism of common magical traditions and (especially) learned magical practices and attitudes toward the occult."—Tamar Herzig, Tel Aviv University, Magic, Ritual and Witchcraft
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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.
-Ideal for undergraduate courses on magic and witchcraft and on medieval and early-modern Europe
-Well written and accessible to students
-The chronological organization, within which each chapter is organized thematically, allows for easy use in the classroom
-Presents the history of magic and witchcraft in a sophisticated, nuanced fashion that incorporates the most current scholarship
About the Author
Michael D. Bailey is assistant professor of history at Iowa State University.