It’s good to see Gary Lachman being published in a national daily newspaper.
The Independent today publishes his review of David Katz’s The Occult Tradition.
Academic studies of the occult often seem to show up after the fact, like latecomers to a party that’s been going on for hours. Once arrived, they inform readers about things they more than likely are very familiar with: most books on the occult are read by people who are already interested in it. David S Katz’s The Occult Tradition is no exception.
It’s fair to say that it’s not a very complimentary review: “Much of what we can call the “history of the occult” is absent from this book. Central players like Rudolf Steiner, Aleister Crowley and GI Gurdjieff warrant only a namecheck, and in the case of Steiner and Gurdjieff, are misrepresented.”
http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/books/reviews/article335730.ece