Magic is not simply a matter of the occult arts, but a whole way of thinking, of dreaming the impossible. With startling originality and impeccable research, this groundbreaking book shows how magic, in the deepest sense, helped to create the modern world, and how profoundly it is still inscribed in the way we think today.Magic is not simply a matter of the occult arts, but a whole way of thinking, of dreaming the impossible. With startling originality and impeccable research, this groundbreaking book shows how magic, in the deepest sense, helped to create the modern world, and how profoundly it is still inscribed in the way we think today. Short-listed for National Book Critics Circle Criticism Award 2013 (United States).