Cambridge History of Magic and Witchcraft in the West
Subtitle: From Antiquity to the Present
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2015
Language: eng
Number of pages: 712
ISBN-13: 9780521194181
Subjects: Magic, history; Witchcraft
Description: "This book presents twenty chapters by experts in their fields, providing a thorough and interdisciplinary overview of the theory and practice of magic in the West. Its chronological scope extends from the Ancient Near East to twenty-first-century North America; its objects of analysis range from Persian curse tablets to U.S. neo-paganism. For comparative purposes, the volume includes chapters on developments in the Jewish and Muslim worlds, evaluated not simply for what they contributed at various points to European notions of magic, but also as models of alternative development in ancient Mediterranean legacy. Similarly, the volume highlights the transformative and challenging encounters of Europeans with non-Europeans, regarding the practice of magic in both early modern colonization and more recent decolonization."--