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The Bathhouse at Midnight: Magic in Russia. By W. F. Ryan. Magic in History. University Park, Penn.: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999. viii + 504 pp. $65.00 cloth; $22.50 paper.
W. F. Ryan's examination of various magical beliefs and practices in Russia from Muscovite times to the present is a welcome addition to the study of magic in history. Through the use of chronicles and folklore as well as church and secular laws prohibiting the use of black magic, Ryan dispels many myths about the place of magic in Russian society. Most prevalent...