David J. Collins, S. J., is Associate Professor of History at Georgetown University, Washington DC. His research has been supported by prestigious fellowships from the Charlotte Newcombe Foundation, the Alexander Humboldt Foundation, and the Gerda Henkel Foundation. He has published extensively on the medieval cult of the saints, Renaissance humanism, and learned magic, especially in central Europe. He is currently working on the reception of Albertus Magnus' teachings on magic in the early modern period.

• 1. Ancient Near East Daniel Schwemer; 2. Ancient Egypt Friedhelm Hoffmann; 3. Early Greco-Roman antiquity Kimberly B. Stratton; 4. Imperial Rome Kyle A. Fraser; 5. The early church Maijastina Kahlos; 6. The early medieval West Yitzhak Hen; 7. Magic in medieval Byzantium Alicia Walker; 8. Magic, marvel, and miracle in early Islamic thought Travis Zadeh; 9. Jewish magic in the Middle Ages Gideon Bohak; 10. Common magic Catherine Rider; 11. Learned magic David J. Collins, S.J.; 12. Diabolic magic Michael D. Bailey; 13. Magic and priestcraft: reformers and reformation Helen L. Parish; 14. Spain and Mexico Louise Burkhart; 15. Folk magic in North America Richard Godbeer; 16. Colonial magic: the Dutch East Indies Margaret Wiener; 17. Magic in common and legal perspectives Owen Davies; 18. Elite magic in the nineteenth century David Allen Harvey; 19. Magic in the postcolonial Americas Raquel Romberg; 20. New-age and neo-pagan magic Sabina Magliocco.

'This impressive collective volume proposes a coherent history of learned magic in Western Europe and the colonial world between Christianization and contemporary neo-paganism. It has found an access to magic that contrasts with the many studies that situate magic in a religious or anthropological context, and thus is a welcome and necessary supplement and corrective. Giordano Bruno would have relished it.' Fritz Graf, Ohio State University