Both a professional academic researcher and practising magician, Dr Dave Evans delves into modern history to present a serious, but accessible and fascinating work, based on research work done for a Master of Arts degree on the history and literature of British magic, focussing especially on Aleister Crowley. Topics covered include Aleister Crowley and Thelema, Dennis Wheatley, Kenneth Grant, Jack Parsons, Tom Driberg, the British spying community, Austin Osman Spare, Gerald Gardner and others. Being a useful biography of Crowley, plus more, this accessible and diverse book can be considered a prequel of, and a seed for the author's larger subsequent volume The History of British Magic After Crowley.