The story of witchcraft and magic - from the ancient world to Harry PotterCovers 4000 years of magical practices and ideas in the West, from the first examples of spells written on clay tablets in the ancient worldExplores the magical beliefs of the Roman, Greeks, Jews, and early Christians - and the role of the Arabs in preserving the magical knowledge of the AncientsInvestigates what the archives really tell us about the witch trials of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuriesTells the story of post-Enlightenment magic and the rise of Wicca in the twentieth centuryExamines the the anthropology of magic around the globe, from the nineteenth to the twenty-first centuriesLooks at the cinematic portrayal of witches and magicians, from The Wizard of Oz to Buffy the Vampire Slayer.