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Words are powerful. No one believes it morefervently than a sorcerer casting a spell. In Grimoires, British social historian Owen Davies examines magicaltexts from Babylonia through “Buffy theVampire Slayer,” finding connections between conjuration, religion, science andpolitics. Along with pornography and political tracts, grimoires have been theliterature most likely to be censored in recent history as well as in ages whenwriting itself was magical. In a work of cogent synthesis, Davies shows thatgrimoires have played a role in everything from murder to imaginative fiction,anti-colonial movements to quack remedies.
