The history that unfolds between the covers of The Fated Sky is truly fascinating. I picked up this book because I was familiar with some of Bobrick's other works: Angel in the Whirlwind, Labyrinths of Iron, East of the Sun. And was completely surprised and delighted.

Only a remarkable historian like Bobrick would dare tackle a subject as tricky and controversial as this. But with the care and circumspection that is the trademark of all his works. He not only shows respect for the history of science as well as the occult, but brings his subjects brilliantly alive. What a great read! This astonishing book deserves the Pulitzer Prize!

This amazingly thorough and beautifully written book about a highly controversial subject stands as a model of impartial and fairminded research. It carefully traces the whole history of Western astrology with great learning and wisdom, and is blissfully free of both New Age cant and the equally tiresome "neo-scientific" hysteria that usually infect the partisan debate. In a compelling narrative filled with remarkable characters, judiciously mingled with wise philosophical remarks, Bobrick places the whole story in coherent context. He is nothing if not fair-minded, and seems most interested not in making a case for or against astrology but in assessing the subject on its own terms. That makes him rare. He is careful to distinguish between classical and modern astrology, and I think succeeds admirably in reopening debate about the subject's merits on higher ground. But whether you happen to think astrology has "scientific" value or not--and, as Bobrick shows, it in fact never aspired to be a science in the modern sense--this is a first-rate history, and the wealth of the material it contains is of such value and interest, and presented with such skill, that no one with a taste for the story of human knowledge can afford to pass it up.