It is hard to overestimate the importance of the contribution made by
Dame Frances Yates to the serious study of esotericism and the occult
sciences. To her work can be attributed the contemporary understanding
of the occult origins of much of Western scientific thinking, indeed of
Western civilization itself. The Occult Philosophy of the Elizabethan
Age was her last book, and in it she condensed many aspects of her wide
learning to present a clear, penetrating, and, above all, accessible
survey of the occult movements of the Renaissance, highlighting the work
of John Dee, Giordano Bruno, and other key esoteric figures. The book is
invaluable in illuminating the relationship between occultism and
Renaissance thought, which in turn had a profound impact on the rise of
science in the seventeenth century. Stunningly written and highly
engaging, Yates' masterpiece is a must-read for anyone interested in the
occult tradition.