From a puritan background Aleister Crowley became one of the most notorious figures of the first half of the century. Certainly he practised 'magick' and claimed to have founded a new religion with himself as Messiah. But did he merit the horror his name and alleged practices still evoke? Did he have paranormal powers? Was he a genuine scholar of mystic religions? Or was he simply a charlatan?
With the voices of those who knew him, and followed him, and with the views of experts on Crowley's life and work, James Webb unravels the myth and reality of Aleister Crowley.