The acclaimed author of The Outsider explores occult ideas, practices and figures from Kabbalah to Aleister Crowley in this "fascinating history of magic" (The Washington Post).

Colin Wilson is widely regarded as one of the world's foremost experts on occultism. His classic historical study on the subject is an essential guide to the mind-expanding experiences and discoveries made by occultists through the centuries—from Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa to Giacomo Casanova, Helena Blavatsky, Grigori Rasputin, and many others.

More than a chronicle of people and events, however, Wilson has produced a synthesis of the available material, presenting the occult in the light of reason—and reason in the light of the mystical and paranormal. The result is a wide-ranging survey of the subject that provides a comprehensive history of magic, an insightful exploration of our latent powers, and a revelatory journey of enlightenment.

"This most interesting, informative and thought-provoking book on the subject I have read." —Arthur Calder-Marshall, The Sunday Telegraph