“[D]evelops a different argument in suggesting that it was sceptical humanists and freethinkers, rather than scientists, who did most to discredit traditional magic.”—Tony Barber, Financial Times
"Next year will mark the 50th anniversary of Keith Thomas’s Religion and the Decline of Magic, one of the 20th century’s seminal historical texts. Hunter’s book has a similar-sounding title, but develops a different argument in suggesting that it was sceptical humanists and freethinkers, rather than scientists, who did most to discredit traditional magic"—Tony Barber, Financial Times 'Best Books of 2020: History'
"In 1971, Keith Thomas published what became a classic study on Religion and the Decline of Magic. Half a century later, Michael Hunter approaches that decline from another angle and offers an alternative explanation. Learned, lucid, acute and balanced, Hunter’s book deserves to become another classic."—Peter Burke, author of A Social History of Knowledge
"This is an important and remarkable book, the product of a master of the subject and period. It completely overhauls our view of that subject, answering questions which have hung over it for decades, and raises some exciting and disturbing questions for the present."—Ronald Hutton, author of The Witch
“Michael Hunter, a pre-eminent historian of early modern science, redresses a balance in recent scholarship by examining skepticism towards magical phenomena among British intellectuals of the early Enlightenment. The result is a readable, thought-provoking book that places scientific inquiry firmly within broader historical trends.”—Paul Kléber Monod, author of Solomon's Secret Arts
“Definitely a book to think with. Hunter brings new figures to scrutiny—Obadiah Oddy, Richard Mead, John Wagstaffe, Francis Hutchinson—and expertly weaves them into this tapestry of intellectual and cultural change.”—Justin Champion, author of The Pillars Of Priestcraft Shaken
