num_pages: 496
description: Aleister Crowley was a blustery coward, an arrogant, misogynistic racist with fascist leanings, and a callous user, as often threatened by his sexuality as he claimed to be liberated by it. But he was also a groundbreaking poet and an iconoclastic visionary whose literary and cultural legacies extend far beyond the limits of his reputation. This controversial individual, a frightening mixture of egomania and self-loathing, has inspired passionate--but seldom fair--assesments by historians. Sutin, by treating Crowley as a cultural phenomenon, and not simply a sorcerer or a charlatan, convinces skeptic readers that the self-styled "Beast" remains a fascinating study in eccentricity.
language: English
title: Do What Thou Wilt: A Life of Aleister Crowley
titlecomplete: Do What Thou Wilt: A Life of Aleister Crowley
characters: Aleister Crowley
genres: History, Occult, Metaphysics, Religion, Magick, Biography Memoir, Gay, Thelema, Biography, Nonfiction
ratings_count: 758
publisher: St. Martin's Griffin