Wizards

Wizards traces the changing figure of the wizard from the ancient world to the present, asking what people have meant by the term across different periods. P G Maxwell-Stuart distinguishes the wizard from the simple stage conjurer and from the hostile stereotype of the magician allied with Satan.

The book also considers practitioners who treated magic as a religious or intellectual pursuit, using it in an effort to understand the mind of God. Alongside these competing images, Maxwell-Stuart examines the history of the word itself, linking “wizard” with wisdom but also with discreditable excess. The result is a historical account of a figure shaped by religion, fear, learning and changing ideas about magic.