Rating: 
Summary: New light on the beast
Review: Overall I enjoyed this book, it is objectively written neither glorifying Crowley or reviling him. As at least one other reviewer has pointed out it is not as entertaining a read as Symonds' "Great Beast" but it does shed a bit of new light on aspects of Crowley that others have neglected. His mountaineering and bisexuality for instance. I particularly enjoyed the final chapter deling with his last years and showing his influence on subsequent developments in Magick.
Rating: 
Summary: An unexpected result
Review: Somehow Sutin manages to make Crowley boring. This is a dull, patchy uninteresting book with a confused narrative. A more intelligible introduction is to be found in Martin Booth's 'A Magick Life' (at the time of writing UK only, but available from Amazon.co.uk), though Booth, too, tries a bit to hard to be kind to his frankly deplorable subject. Best of all, try John Symonds - not 'The Great Beast', but his lesser-known updated version 'King Of The Shadow Realm'; if you can find a copy, that's the book. Sutin has some good photos, though not enough of them, but his text is so turgid. Do what thou wilt, indeed, but I recommend that you avoid.
Rating: 
Summary: A real life look at the Prophet of the new aeon.
Review: Sutin has written the best biography of Aleister Crowley ever written. That being said, don't expect a glowing, praise filled, "Uncle Al is a God" type biography. You won't get it and it's a good thing you won't because AC was nothing like that. Sutin approaches Crowley's life as a biographer, not a follower. That's what makes the book so good. Crowley's life was one long mess, mostly of his own making, and Sutin doesn't leave out a thing. After reading "Do What Thou Wilt" you will find yourself questioning everything you ever thought you knew about Aleister Crowley. However, you will also recognize the genius of the man, his wit, his wisdom, and penny-anti carnival shyster antics that made him both the scourge of the Victorian era, and the broken down, drug addicted, lonely old man in Post WWII England. Crowley had moments of Divine inspiration and moments of madness. Unfortunately, Crowley often couldn't tell the difference between the two.
Rating:
Summary: A real life look at the Prophet of the new aeon.
Review: Sutin has written the best biography of Aleister Crowley ever written. That being said, don't expect a glowing, praise filled, "Uncle Al is a God" type biography. You won't get it and it's a good thing you won't because AC was nothing like that. Sutin approaches Crowley's life as a biographer, not a follower. That's what makes the book so good. Crowley's life was one long mess, mostly of his own making, and Sutin doesn't leave out a thing. After reading "Do What Thou Wilt" you will find yourself questioning everything you ever thought you knew about Aleister Crowley. However, you will also recognize the genius of the man, his wit, his wisdom, and penny-anti carnival shyster antics that made him both the scourge of the Victorian era, and the broken down, drug addicted, lonely old man in Post WWII England. Crowley had moments of Divine inspiration and moments of madness. Unfortunately, Crowley often couldn't tell the difference between the two.
Rating:
Summary: simply the be(a)st
Review: sutin is a r e a l biographer - unlike most crowley biographers before him. his p.k. dick bio was great - his work on crowley is even better. there where two types of crowley bios until now: 1. books written by crowley enthusiasts - religious types - true believers. most of those books are pretty boring (those by mr regadie where very good though - but this guy had a brillant insight into things concerning magick) 2. books by peolpe who dislike therion and try to make him kind of a kindergarten boogie man (wich he wasn`t) sutins bio is a real piece of work. an outstanding bio about an outstanding and excentric artist/magickian. great reading! cool!!
Rating:
Summary: the place to start, and probably finish, your interest
Review: The most balanced, well-written, well-researched biography of Crowley ever written, out of dozens of attempts. It avoids the idiotically sycophantic efforts of I. Regardie, K. Grant, R. A. Wilson ( some of those who believe the destructive, egomaniacal, blood and dope drinking Crowley to be the avatar of the century at least and of all history at most) and similar occult/psychology true belivers while steering clear of the opposite cliff, the naive dismissals of Symonds, Hutchinson, Colin Wilson and the kinds of hacks who write entries for those ridiculous encycopedias of the supernatural. This book is a thankless labor of love by a writer whose talents are exactly suited for it and should be the first and last stop for all those with a casual interest in the life of that erraticly brilliant, ultimately repugnant clown of spirituality, Aleister Crowley.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent reading
Review: The name Aleister Crowley evokes varying responses. While the man was widely known, few seem to actually know much about him beyond his reputation. This book gives an objective, intimate view of the man, neither placing him upon a pedestal nor vilifying him. An enjoyable read which gives insight into the man behind the myth.
Rating:
Summary: The Pinnacle of Crowley Biography
Review: The problem of Aleister Crowley: (now) widely regarded as a precursor to most modern tendencies toward sexual experiementation, women's equality (the paradox is examined in the book), artistic tendencies, gay poetry, the western interest in Buddhism and eastern philosophies etc. He was also at least somewhat a misogynist, racist, all-round scoundrel, drug addict, alcoholic, destitute and a sado-masochist. To top it all off, he was the twentieth century's version of Christ. Or so he would have you believe.
The distinguishing characteristic of Sutin's biography is his willingness to frankly admit the negative, and sometimes quite despicable, aspects of Crowley's personality despite his evident admiration for the man. There are more myths and legends surrounding this figure of the twentieth century than make it safe to attempt to pinpoint just who the mysterious Crowley really was and what he really wanted. Sutin does a masterful job dealing with the press-Beast contentions...he shows Crowley's willingness (and capability) to use the yellow journalism of his time for his own benefit by labeling him the Wickedest Man in the World. Crowley succeeded in turning around all the ridiculous claims of John Bull, The Looking Glass and their ilk to insure his legacy...there are few better ways of garnering the attention of potential students than screaming headlines about ritual murder of 150 children, bestial sex rites, and claims of being nothing less than the Antichrist. This persona is the usual introduction for Crowley readers...it is also the best bait imaginable, and Crowley knew it. Sutin places Crowley's biases squarely at the foot of the frailties of the times he lived in. After all, the editors of the papers above certainly did not have any more scruples than Crowley himself. He appropriately leaves open such sensitive questions as the reality of the Cairo Working, the nature of Aiwass and the source of Liber AL. He does an excellent job at tracing Crowley influences outside of Thelema, particularly the contentious question as to the degree of involvement Crowley had in developing Wicca (I am firmly of the opinion that Gardner stole shamelessly--not that that's a bad thing or uncommon: after all, Crowley did it too--from Crowley, the Golden Dawn, the OTO etc., whereas I am skeptical as to Crowley's authorship of "The Book of Shadows", though it is clear "Shadows"--and "High Magic's Aid"--were both influenced by Crowley). Sutin does a masterful job placing Crowley in his appropriate place of twentieth century--and future--spirituality (though he was not the first--if you take a look at the posthumous chronology in the back, in 1970 it was I beleive Time Magazine that placed Crowley as one of the 1000 people that shaped the twentieth century). Crowley's place? Teacher, devil, Prophet, eminent spiritual thinker. Artist, philosopher, brilliant visionary. The Logos of the Aeon. An excellent biography. Love is the law, love under will.
Rating:
Summary: Faix ce que veult
Review: There is a mystery to the end of the nineteenth century in the sudden appearance of figures such as Nietzsche, Gurdjieff, and Crowley, out of the blue, trying to rewrite the rules of various games, and in each case with a vicious sadistic streak. We fail to see the connection, or suspect one, but with Crowley we have a clue, albeit a misleading one, almost like a decoy. And then we see the Hitler phenomenon. With Crowley we see the explicit connection between autonomy pursued and autonomy occulted, as Nietzsche suddenly becomes transparent, thrasing around, he never knew what hit him. Your move, beware of reaching in the cookie jar here. Do you have potential Faustian propensities? If you have gotten this far, I'd be worried. Click on Paton's The Categorical Imperative for the Kantian take on will. Much better, first rate, when Crowley is second rate, though interesting, and pitiable. He would be of no importance were it not for his 'book of the law' and 'new aeon' swindle, which nonetheless expresses, and distorts, an important thematic that needs to be salvaged from the occult altogether, to be seen in its true form.
This is a useful biography of Crowley whom the author understandably wishes to defend, at least to the degree of a biography, given the rote excoriations, which are inevitable, and in the end deserved. Crowley's 'magic' is a waste of time, but one meets enough idiots in this field to require some leery investigation. A man of many talents, the colorful self-realization of his 'career' is something you could never imitate so beware of trying. A good poker player folds often, very dull. A bad one reaches into the cookie jar. With Crowley, fold, I would say, just observe.
A useful account.
Rating: 
Summary: Nothing new on an old bore
Review: This book has nothing new to say.It's all been said before.There is no character analysis in this book. Commenting on the incident when Crowley did not help members of his climbing party buried in an avalanche, Sutin says Crowley did not behave like a gentleman, and would have called someone a coward who did not help him in a similar case.Such callous behavior by Crowley calls for more depth of comment because it says much about the man.If Crowley's self indulgent rituals had any value,there is no discussion by Sutin.The author says Crowley did not approve of women who abused alcohol, yet relates how many women in his life were alcoholics.Sutin does not tell us that Crowley deliberately sought out weak-willed people so that he could dominate them.The author accepts on face value the statements Crowley makes about himself and other people.Anyone who has studied Crowley knows he was an inveterate liar and could not be trusted.This book has the basic facts about Crowley's life, but lacks analysis of his character.Only a decadent age like today would be interested in a pathetic little man like Crowley.
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