Welcome to the inaugural Bookworm History podcast! Today we're delving into the real world behind Christopher Marlowe's immortal "Doctor Faustus", the brilliant-but-bored German magician who sold his soul to the devil. Before he was ever immortalized by Marlowe, Faust was a real person (although a pretty cut-rate magician who probably didn't sell his soul to the devil). Magic! Demons! A maddeningly non-linear story of publication! All that and more!