The Secret City: London's Hidden History of Magic, Mystery, and the Occult.

Buy Now (Book Link) The 18th century, the so-called Age of Enlightenment, was a period when magic seemed to retreat from the world. The new science of Newton and the rational philosophy of Locke promised to banish superstition and usher in an age of reason. But magic did not disappear; it simply changed its form. It went underground, hiding itself in the new and increasingly complex world of finance, trade, and empire. The new magic was the magic of money, and its high temple was the City of London. The Rise of Financial Alchemy The rebuilt city, with its rational street plan and its powerful new financial institutions, was the perfect laboratory for this new kind of magic. The alchemists of the 17th century had sought to turn lead into gold in their fiery furnaces. The new alchemists of the 18th century, the bankers, the stock-jobbers, and the merchants of the City of London, performed an even more miraculous transformation: they turned paper into money, and money into power. The Foun...