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Aleister Crowley: The Beast Demystified
 
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Aleister Crowley: The Beast Demystified (Paperback)

by Roger Hutchinson (Author)
2.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 224 pages
  • Publisher: Mainstream Publishing; New edition edition (7 Oct 1999)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1840182296
  • ISBN-13: 978-1840182293
  • Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 15.7 x 2.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 484,860 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #73 in  Books > Biography > Theatre & Performance Art > Magicians

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Product Description

Product Description
Dubbed the "wickedest man in the world" and the "Great Beast", Aleister Crowley has a terrifying reputation. Stories abound of drugs, orgies and magical ceremonies involving the sacrifice of babies. Many who associated with him died tragically, including his wife and child. This biography offers an agnostic view, concentrating not on Crowley the impenetrable mystic and bizarre character, but on Crowley the comprehensible man. The book presents the Great Beast as an accessible character: a flawed and egotistical individual who nonetheless left an ineradicable mark on the 19th century.

About the Author
Roger Hutchinson is an award-winning author and journalist. He lives on the Isle of Raasay. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Customer Reviews

6 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
2.3 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Biased and unfair !!!, 22 Jan 2003
By Lee (England) - See all my reviews
  
This review is from: Aleister Crowley: The Beast Demystified (Hardcover)
Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law.

After reading this book I was left wondering why on earth Roger Hutchinson bothered writing it in the first place. The entire book exudes contempt and loathing for Crowley and the author obviously has no understanding of Magick or Thelema. Anyone wanting to read a more balanced biography is advised to turn to "Do What Thou Wilt" by Lawrence Sutin or "A Magick Life" by Martin Booth. Compared to these two books, Hutchinsons book looks both amateurish and shallow. Tabloid journalism of the worst sort. Avoid this book like the plague.

Love Is The Law, Love Under Will.

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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars A modern Crowley would be auditioning for 'Popstars', 6 Dec 2001
By waarters@hotmail.com (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
This book carefully examines the life of Aleister Crowley taking great care not to take sides, which considering the subject matter, is not an easy feat.
His entire life is 'dymsytified' and we get an impression that the beast is more of a spoilt brat, who couldn't get over his fathers death.
The book is constructed historically with various accounts from newspapers and friends (or enemies)as we follow Crowley through his life.
Hutchinson presents Crowley as desperate for attention, who perhaps would have entered for 'Popstars' if still around today; although to view him as a Darius or Nasty Nigel would be to make the same mistake as the author.
We are given this impression by accounts of Crowley as poet, magician, climber,cultist, painter.. i could go on.(like the author)
Rather than a jack of all trades he suggests 'the beast' merely wanted to be loved, to be recognised.. Ah.
In this sense then Crowley is viewed as a kind of Tommy Cooper figure. Somebody acknowledged for his quirky failures rather than his command of his subject and it is this that makes the book so annoying.
How anybody can possible dymystify Crowley without examining his work, notably 'The book of Lies'is nothing but the Devil's work itself! It's like watching popstars without Nasty Nigel. And it is for this reason that one gets the impression the author doesn't quite have the flexibility nor depth of mind to examine such work, years above it's time. Hence he has taken the easy road out, like many biographers before him and explains why the book is an under fed and paltry 216 pages, when it should have been 2160.
If you want to know where Crowley lived and visit it on your summer hol's this book's perfect. If you want to delve and drown inside one of the most tangled yet succinct minds of this century, buy a book actually written by Crowley.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A good intro. to the life of a flawed genius, 16 May 2000
By Tanydon "jakt41" (Manchester UK.) - See all my reviews
Readers who already have more than a superficial knowledge of the life and works of Aleister Crowley will find very little that is new in this biography. It is really just a re-hash of all the well known scandals and conflicts that plagued Crowleys life (most of his own making). However, for anyone reading about Crowley for the first time it could be the ideal introduction because it is written clearly and simply and without the assumption by the author that the reader has an understanding of Crowleys particular brand of "magick". It is rather unfortunate however that the book is sub-titled "The Beast Demystified", because what this book definately does not do is demystify him, but,to be fair to Hutchinson no single book could ever hope to explain a man as complex as Crowley. If what one wants is a good entertaining read and at the same time something to wet the appetite to know more about this enigmatic man, then this book is as good a starter as any.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Badly Researched
I haven't actually finished reading this book yet, but it has annoyed me so much I feel the necessity of writing an interim review. Read more
Published on 10 Jul 2007 by John Tindsley

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing account of an apparently naughty man
Has Roger Hutchinson demystified the Beast? Yes, because he has managed to write a truly dull account of someone dubbed the Wickedest Man in the World. Read more
Published on 8 Jul 2000

4.0 out of 5 stars Very readable appraisal of Aleister Crowley
The writer is unassuming in the reader's foreknowledge of Aleister Crowley therefore admirably serving the uninitiated into this most remarkable and enigmatic of men. Read more
Published on 21 Jun 2000

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