Search results for ""author owen davies""

A Supernatural War reveals the surprising stories of extraordinary people in a world caught up with the promise of occult powers. It was a commonly expressed view during the First World War that the conflict had seen a major revival of 'superstitious' beliefs and practices. Churches expressed concerns about the wearing of talismans and amulets, the international press paid considerable interest to the pronouncements of astrologers and prophets, and the authorities in several countries periodically clamped down on fortune tellers and mediums due to concerns over their effect on public morale. Out on the battlefields, soldiers of all nations sought to protect themselves through magical and religious rituals, and, on the home front, people sought out psychics and occult practitioners for news of the fate of their distant loved ones or communication with their spirits. Even away from concerns about the war, suspected witches continued to be abused and people continued to resort to magic and magical practitioners for personal protection, love, and success. Uncovering and examining beliefs, practices, and contemporary opinions regarding the role of the supernatural in the war years, Owen Davies explores the broader issues regarding early twentieth-century society in the West, the psychology of the supernatural during wartime, and the extent to which the war cast a spotlight on the widespread continuation of popular belief in magic.

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Histories you can trust. This history provides a readable and fresh approach to the extensive and complex story of witchcraft and magic. Telling the story from the dawn of writing in the ancient world to the globally successful Harry Potter films, the authors explore a wide range of magical beliefs and practices, the rise of the witch trials, and the depiction of the Devil-worshipping witch. The book also focuses on the more recent history of witchcraft and magic, from the Enlightenment to the present, exploring the rise of modern magic, the anthropology of magic around the globe, and finally the cinematic portrayal of witches and magicians, from The Wizard of Oz to Charmed and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

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Defining 'magic' is a maddening task. Over the last century numerous philosophers, anthropologists, historians, and theologians have attempted to pin down its essential meaning, sometimes analysing it in such complex and abstruse depth that it all but loses its sense altogether. For this reason, many people often shy away from providing a detailed definition, assuming it is generally understood as the human control of supernatural forces. 'Magic' continues to pervade the popular imagination and idiom. People feel comfortable with its contemporary multiple meanings, unaware of the controversy, conflict, and debate its definition has caused over two and a half millennia. In common usage today 'magic' is uttered in reference to the supernatural, superstition, illusion, trickery, religious miracles, fantasies, and as a simple superlative. The literary confection known as 'magical realism' has considerable appeal and many modern scientists have ironically incorporated the word into their vocabulary, with their 'magic acid', 'magic bullets' and 'magic angles'. Since the so-called European Enlightenment magic has often been seen as a marker of primitivism, of a benighted earlier stage of human development. Yet across the modern globalized world hundreds of millions continue to resort to magic - and also to fear it. Magic provides explanations and remedies for those living in extreme poverty and without access to alternatives. In the industrial West, with its state welfare systems, religious fundamentalists decry the continued moral threat posed by magic. Under the guise of neo-Paganism, its practice has become a religion in itself. Magic continues to be a truly global issue. This Very Short Introduction does not attempt to provide a concluding definition of magic: it is beyond simple definition. Instead it explores the many ways in which magic, as an idea and a practice, has been understood and employed over the millennia. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

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A copiously illustrated global history of magic books, from ancient papyri to pulp paperbacks “A beautiful production: a typographic and calligraphic treat as treasurable as a rare magical text itself. Almost every page is filled with wonder.”—Suzi Feay, The Spectator Grimoires, textbooks of magic and occult knowledge, have existed through the ages alongside other magic and religious texts in part because of the need to create a physical record of magical phenomena, but also to enact magic through spells and rituals. To understand the history of these texts is to understand the influence of the major religions, the development of early science, the cultural influence of print, the growth of literacy, the social impact of colonialism, and the expansion of esoteric cultures across the oceans. In more than two hundred color illustrations from ancient times to the present, renowned scholar Owen Davies examines little-studied artistic qualities of grimoires, revealing a unique world of design and imagination. The book takes a global approach, considering Egyptian and Greek papyri, ancient Chinese bamboo scripts, South American pulp prints, and Japanese demon encyclopedias, among other examples. This book will enchant readers interested in the history of magic and science, as well as in book and manuscript history.

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1952 saw the opening of a new Technical College in Hatfield, built on land donated by Alan S Butler, Chairman of the de Havilland Aircraft Company. With its roots in Britain's pioneering aeronautical industry, the College was soon established as an innovative force in education. Having been at the forefront of developing new subjects such as Computer Science, it evolved continually, being redesignated as Hatfield Polytechnic in 1969 and becoming the University of Hertfordshire in 1992. The institution has been forged over time out of its Hertfordshire-wide constituent colleges and campuses, which were variously founded to offer training and inspiration in teaching, medicine, the arts, business, science and the humanities. Now the University of Hertfordshire has become an internationally recognised leader in both research and teaching, exemplifying what a university can achieve through embracing a broad curriculum. This is the history of the University of Hertfordshire, relating the challenges and achievements of sixty years in further and higher education. At the same time, through its focus on a single institution, the book illustrates the importance of the post-1992 higher education sector in advancing the knowledge economy and cultural life of the country. The University has both been shaped by and has informed government policy as it has developed and it now takes its place in an international context as part of the global education system. Founded on principles of widening participation in higher education, in its sixtieth year the University celebrates the life-changing experience of education and its great cultural, social and economic value. Through the stories and memories of individual students and members of staff, the book also illuminates the experience of the hundreds of thousands of students who have graduated, and the contribution of academic and professional staff in making the College, Polytechnic and University a success. Over the decades there has been continuous growth and development - and, always, a vibrant culture of learning. Looking forward, the book explores how the University of Hertfordshire is drawing upon its heritage to shape its future.

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