The name -Aleister Crowley- instantly conjures visions of diabolic ceremonies and orgiastic indulgences--and while the sardonic Crowley would perhaps be the last to challenge such a view, he was also much more than -the Beast, - as this authoritative biography shows. Perdurabo (the magical name Crowley chose when inducted into the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn) traces Crowley's remarkable journey from his birth as the only son of a wealthy lay preacher to his death in a boarding house as the world's foremost authority on magick. Along the way, he rebels against his conservative...