Witchcraft

By Marion Gibson,

Book cover of Witchcraft: A History in Thirteen Trials

Book description

Salem, King James VI, Malleus Maleficarum. The world of witch hunts and witch trials sounds antiquated, relics of an unenlightened and brutal age. However, 'witch hunt' is heard often in the present-day media, and the misogyny it is rooted in is all too familiar today. A woman was prosecuted under…


Shepherd is reader supported. When you buy books, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Why read it?

1 author picked Witchcraft as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

When this book publication announcement came across my email, I had to have it. I think about witchcraft history a lot. The history of witchcraft is my Roman Empire. Gibson brings nuance to the study of witch panics, hunts, and trials. Some of the trials she highlights are familiar - if you listen to the History of Witchcraft podcast, or Dig: A History Podcast, or if you’ve seen any version of The Crucible production, you’ll recognize names and places in some of these chapters. But there are some surprises in there. The story of a woman who beat Heinrich Kramer,…