A Handbook on Witches

by Gillian Tindall

Library of Congress number: 66-12995

Introduction

There are some excellent scholarly works on witches and their lore: this is not one of them. There are also a number of subjective and impassioned books written by people with some pet theory, religious or Naturist, or with a frankly undiscriminating taste for the sinister. I hope that this book does not belong to these categories either. With a great deal of interest in the subject, but without any personal involvement, I have tried to present historical witchcraft lucidly and honestly to the general reader. It is a huge and complex subject, touching many aspects of human behavior, and although I have suggested this and have made one or two points of my own, I have not attempted any detailed excursions into psychology and sociology. For facts, I have drawn freely on the works of a number of people more expert than myself, and inevitably, since this book is short, it does not pretend to be other than subjective in the examples and quotations it gives. Some readers will find enough interest and - I hope - amusement here to satisfy their curiosity; others may be stimulated to read further in more specialized works. For them, this book is intended as an introduction.
Gillian Tindall

Genres: Witches, Nonfiction

156 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

Gillian Tindall began her career as a prize-winning novelist. She has continued to publish fiction but has also staked out an impressive territory in idiosyncratic non-fiction that is brilliantly evocative of place.

Her The Fields Beneath: The History of One London Village which first appeared thirty years ago, has rarely been out of print; nor has Celestine: Voices from a French Village, published in the mid 1990s and translated into several languages, for which she was decorated by the French government.

Well known for the quality of her writing and the meticulous nature of her research, Gillian is a master of miniaturist history. She lives with her husband in London.

Reviews

[Carol Kennedy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little dated, but an entertaining and informative read

[Lysergius · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thoroughly entertaining.