It seems lately that it's almost become a fad to write a new Crowley bio. Some have been good, others not. This one is not. The only good thing about this book is the fascinating dustjacket photo (the only photo of the whole book, by the way). What Mr. Hutchinson has done (seemingly for the sole purpose of cashing in on Crowley's recent popularity) is to read a couple of the previously existing bios and blend that with his own misunderstanding and negative attitudes towards his subject and have it printed up in an attractive hardcover (or now trade paperback) form. We receive absolutely NO new information, anecdotes or even rare rumors. The only thing which we receive from this book not necessarily found in others is the author's sarcastic contempt for Mr. Aleister Crowley and his achievements. No photos (at all), no newly researched information, not even a new angle on old info. Just contempt (which Mr. John Symonds has already given in abundance, though he at least had access to a great deal of interesting "inside" information which is all that makes his books readable). Mr. Hutchinson put forth zero effort on the book and, therefore, those of us who purchased it received zero value for our buck. If you want to read a much less biased, much more interesting book (still not terribly good at giving it's sources, oh well) with new bits of info and lore, purchase the recent work by a Mr. Sutin, he's no Crowleyite but neither does he disregard Crowley's amazing life and accomplishments (and Sutin seems to have done a fair amount of new research as well). For what it's worth, my own favorite bio on AC is "The Magical World of Aleister Crowley" by King, though it's unfortunately out of print. And, if you can managed to ignore the sarcasm, personal opinions and negativity in any books by Symonds (no mean feat in itself) then there is to be found therein a great deal of information unavailable elsewhere.
Considering the impact he had on last century's culture and religion, and the continuing influence he has today, there aren't all that many biographies published on ???the wickedest man in the world???. And most that were have been out of print for years.
Hutchinson's book is not a complete character assassination, but I get the feeling that it's written with the aim to pull Crowley down quite a few notches. His magick is not discussed at any great length, as the author clearly think it's all mumbo-jumbo. Crowley's personal life did contain quite a few episodes that paints the picture of a self-obsessed, egotistical maniac. But doesn't one have to be to accomplish anything?
The worst thing he ever did, in my opinion, was to fail to help his fellow climbers on a groundbreaking 1905 expedition to Kangchenjunga in the Himalayas. They had been taken by an avalanche and were probably dead anyway, but by just ignoring the whole incident Crowley ended his climbing career, nearly conquering the third highest peak in the world. This accomplishment is not listed in any official climbing history books.
Crowley believed in total legalization of all drugs, and thought that anyone that allowed themselves to be addicted were people no one needed anyway. He still died with a hopeless heroin addiction, but at the age of 72 one must say he stuck it out for quite a while, and crammed more intense experience into his life than most of us could, even if we lived ten times over.
As described by Hutchinson, the rest of Crowley's life was filled with travelling, drinking, doing all kinds of drugs, tantric sex, rituals, and leading various half-secret societies that, along with Crowley, often got scandalized in the british tabloids of the time. A fair amount of in-fighting in ???The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn??? is also covered. His actions during the two world wars are discussed, concluding that he probably worked for British Intelligence.
???The Beast Demystified??? is worthwhile as far as biographical detail goes, and sheds light on some events that were more muddy in earlier books, but it's not the defintive Crowley biography - that has yet to be written. Also, to put out non-fiction books without a bibliography and a good index is a worse sin than most of the ones Crowley committed.
Those more interested in Crowley's work than his nasty personality should read his disciple Israel Regardie's ???interpretaion??? ???The Eye in the Triangle??? (1970). A book similar to Hutchinson's, but more sketchy, is Colin Wilson's ???The Nature of the Beast??? (1987). Wilson keeps the door open for some of the magick, and thinks Crowley was a great essayist. A friend of Crowley, C.R. Cammell, wrote a biography called (among other titles) ???The Black Magician??? (1951) , which is well worth reading for a different perspective. The most well known and widely read Crowley biography is probably the very detailed, but somewhat unsympathetic ???The Great Beast??? (1951) by John Symonds.
A self-proclaimed son of Crowley, ???Amado???, has written three books that reads as - and must be viewed as - pure fiction until he comes forward with a real name, and proof of being a relative.
Also, there's Crowley's own ???autohagiography??? (a God's autobiography) ???Confessions??? (1969), by most considered an unreadable, overlong mess. The book was edited by Kenneth Grant and Crowley's first biographer John Symonds. Grant believed in Crowley's Law of Thelema, Symonds did not. Grant, who claims to be World Head of the O.T.O., also thinks that Crowley's ???Book of the Law??? was dictated to him by aliens from the planet Sirius. The nearly 1000 page ???Confessions??? is the only one of Crowley's writings that doesn't get trashed by Hutchinson, probably because it was a good source. All of Crowley's poetry and fiction gets mercilessly butchered, contrary to Crowley's own claim of being England's greatest poet.
There's no photos in any of the books mentioned above, so all eager Crowley bio readers are advised to get Sandy Robertson's ???Aleister Crowley Scrapbook??? as a visual side-dish.
After "..Demystified" came out, much thicker bios by L. Sutin and G. Suster have been published, making this book largely redundant.
