The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe

Brian Levack is the leading authority on the history of witch-hunts in Europe.

Anyone seeking to fully understand the events of 1692 in Salem, needs to begin with a study of the 250 years of witch-hunts in Europe that preceded the outbreak in New England, which came late in the game but followed what occurred in many ways what preceded it. 

Levack’s book, now in its fourth edition, is the best source on this subject.  It includes information on the Salem witch trials in context of what happened in Europe. 

The Witch-Hunt is the place to start for anyone interested in European witch-hunts, witch trials, and beliefs about diabolic magic. The book is a concise history of magic and witchcraft in England and across the continent from 1450 to 1750. Levack touches on everything anyone needs to know about the topic, yet the book is more than a survey. The author provides in-depth information and myriad graphic details about the accusations, trials, tortures, and executions of thousands of people, largely women. Witchcraft was ubiquitously thought to be a crime and moral abomination, and it was prosecuted by both secular and… show more.

I read the first edition of this book and fell in love with the subject. Then I spent thirty years studying the history of dangerous spirits. As a subject that belongs as much to popular culture as scholarship, the history of witchcraft has inspired many excitable and unreliable books. Levack’s study is the antidote: a superbly lucid synthesis of the best research, written with style and an easy touch. This is the book to help you really understand the complex and deeply human tragedy of witch trials.