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America Bewitched
America Bewitched is the first major history of witchcraft in America - from the Salem witch trials of 1692 to the present day.
The infamous Salem trials are etched into the consciousness of modern America, the human toll a reminder of the dangers of intolerance and persecution. The refrain 'Remember Salem!' was invoked frequently over the ensuing centuries. As time passed, the trials became a milepost measuring the distance America had progressed from its colonial past, its victims now the righteous and their persecutors the shamed. Yet the story of witchcraft did not end as the American Enlightenment dawned - a new, long, and chilling chapter was about to begin.
Witchcraft after Salem was not just a story of fire-side tales, legends, and superstitions: it continued to be a matter of life and death, souring the American dream for many. We know of more people killed as witches between 1692 and the 1950s than were executed before it. Witches were part of the story of the decimation of the Native Americans, the experience of slavery and emancipation, and the immigrant experience; they were embedded in the religious and social history of the country. Yet the history of American witchcraft between the eighteenth and the twentieth century also tells a less traumatic story, one that shows how different cultures interacted and shaped each other's languages and beliefs.
This is therefore much more than the tale of one persecuted community: it opens a fascinating window on the fears, prejudices, hopes, and dreams of the American people as their country rose from colony to superpower.
The infamous Salem trials are etched into the consciousness of modern America, the human toll a reminder of the dangers of intolerance and persecution. The refrain 'Remember Salem!' was invoked frequently over the ensuing centuries. As time passed, the trials became a milepost measuring the distance America had progressed from its colonial past, its victims now the righteous and their persecutors the shamed. Yet the story of witchcraft did not end as the American Enlightenment dawned - a new, long, and chilling chapter was about to begin.
Witchcraft after Salem was not just a story of fire-side tales, legends, and superstitions: it continued to be a matter of life and death, souring the American dream for many. We know of more people killed as witches between 1692 and the 1950s than were executed before it. Witches were part of the story of the decimation of the Native Americans, the experience of slavery and emancipation, and the immigrant experience; they were embedded in the religious and social history of the country. Yet the history of American witchcraft between the eighteenth and the twentieth century also tells a less traumatic story, one that shows how different cultures interacted and shaped each other's languages and beliefs.
This is therefore much more than the tale of one persecuted community: it opens a fascinating window on the fears, prejudices, hopes, and dreams of the American people as their country rose from colony to superpower.
316 pages, Paperback
First published March 22, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
January 28, 2016
America Bewitched is a fascinating examination of the legal and social issues surrounding the belief of Witchcraft in the United States. Owen Davies details in a balanced, straightforward manner how the witchcraft trials of the New World did not end with the horrors of Salem. While the mass killing of alleged witches ended with Salem, the smaller-scale assaults on accused witches continued into the early 20th century.
Central to the author’s research was digging into the civil court records. Most works on the subject tend to look at only criminal court cases. And if looking solely at the criminal records, one would come to think that the belief in witchcraft had sharply declined after Salem. But a common misperception is that all of the witchcraft laws were removed from the books. As Davies shows us, the laws were not so much removed as replaced. Witchcraft went from being a criminal offense of treating with the Devil to a civil offense of committing fraud by way of claiming to perform witchery in general.
Davies brings together the civil court records with newspaper reports and census records to provide us with a deeper understanding of the belief in witchcraft in America. As late of the early 20th century, individuals were still being charged with witchcraft simply because the average citizen didn’t differentiate between the defunct crime of “being a witch” and fraudulent crime of “claiming to be a witch.” Many of these cases were later charged under different names like disturbing the peace, poisoning, and vandalism. But by matching up the newspaper records with the other facts, Davies shows how many of these cases originated from charges of witchcraft and were the same accusations with different, more “enlightened” names.
Davies also digs deep into the sociological reasons for the belief in Witchcraft. He discussed in great detail how accusations of witchcraft were commonly used by different ethnic immigrant groups in the New World against each other, either because of misunderstandings due to cultural differences or outright hostilities. His examples of how one group’s folk remedies would be interpreted as another group’s witchcraft are enlightening. His examination of how accusations of witchcraft were used against both slaves and Native Americans is particularly noteworthy.
America Bewitched should be considered required reading for anyone with an interest in the full history of witchcraft belief in America.
Reviewer note: I was given a comp copy of this book for review.
Central to the author’s research was digging into the civil court records. Most works on the subject tend to look at only criminal court cases. And if looking solely at the criminal records, one would come to think that the belief in witchcraft had sharply declined after Salem. But a common misperception is that all of the witchcraft laws were removed from the books. As Davies shows us, the laws were not so much removed as replaced. Witchcraft went from being a criminal offense of treating with the Devil to a civil offense of committing fraud by way of claiming to perform witchery in general.
Davies brings together the civil court records with newspaper reports and census records to provide us with a deeper understanding of the belief in witchcraft in America. As late of the early 20th century, individuals were still being charged with witchcraft simply because the average citizen didn’t differentiate between the defunct crime of “being a witch” and fraudulent crime of “claiming to be a witch.” Many of these cases were later charged under different names like disturbing the peace, poisoning, and vandalism. But by matching up the newspaper records with the other facts, Davies shows how many of these cases originated from charges of witchcraft and were the same accusations with different, more “enlightened” names.
Davies also digs deep into the sociological reasons for the belief in Witchcraft. He discussed in great detail how accusations of witchcraft were commonly used by different ethnic immigrant groups in the New World against each other, either because of misunderstandings due to cultural differences or outright hostilities. His examples of how one group’s folk remedies would be interpreted as another group’s witchcraft are enlightening. His examination of how accusations of witchcraft were used against both slaves and Native Americans is particularly noteworthy.
America Bewitched should be considered required reading for anyone with an interest in the full history of witchcraft belief in America.
Reviewer note: I was given a comp copy of this book for review.
January 10, 2020
The author lays out clear evidence that belief in witchcraft was still alive and well in America through the 1800's and even lingering well into the 20th century, kept alive in rural communities where people were inclined to take the bible literally and renewed in cities by waves of immigrants bringing their own witchcraft traditions.
The information is comprehensive, covering many communities across America and the interplay and exchange of beliefs between them. It had never occurred to me that cowboys were worried about witches or that a fear of witches was one of the many traditions maintained into the 20th century by some groups of plain people.
Drawing mainly on legal record, the book includes many cases where widespread belief in witches drove people to report their neighbors to baffled officials or, in many tragic cases, to take the law into their own hands and murder the supposed witch. Particularly tragic were the accounts of first nations people, convinced by missionaries that their own traditional religious and healing practices were satanic, turned against members of their own community who tried to keep these practices alive.
The book does not deal very much with neo-pagan religions or with people who classified THEMSELVES as witches, though there is a lot of information on "witch doctors", people who believed themselves to be (or at least convinced their customers that they were) adept at magically battling the ill effects of witches.
There's a wealth of information here for anyone who is interested in folk beliefs. For example, Dutch and German immigrants brought with them the belief that one could tell if they were the target of witchcraft by cutting open their pillow and looking for clumps of feathers that resembled wreaths, cats, teacups, or any other familiar shape. (Hairs that had worked themselves inside of a pillow were responsible for tangling feathers together and the human inclination to look for familiar forms ensured that some clumps would be seen as clear evidence of the supernatural. And if some clumps only looked like half of a cat? Well, that just meant the spell was only half completed and that the victim was running out of time to stop the witch before the spell ran its fatal course!)
The information is comprehensive, covering many communities across America and the interplay and exchange of beliefs between them. It had never occurred to me that cowboys were worried about witches or that a fear of witches was one of the many traditions maintained into the 20th century by some groups of plain people.
Drawing mainly on legal record, the book includes many cases where widespread belief in witches drove people to report their neighbors to baffled officials or, in many tragic cases, to take the law into their own hands and murder the supposed witch. Particularly tragic were the accounts of first nations people, convinced by missionaries that their own traditional religious and healing practices were satanic, turned against members of their own community who tried to keep these practices alive.
The book does not deal very much with neo-pagan religions or with people who classified THEMSELVES as witches, though there is a lot of information on "witch doctors", people who believed themselves to be (or at least convinced their customers that they were) adept at magically battling the ill effects of witches.
There's a wealth of information here for anyone who is interested in folk beliefs. For example, Dutch and German immigrants brought with them the belief that one could tell if they were the target of witchcraft by cutting open their pillow and looking for clumps of feathers that resembled wreaths, cats, teacups, or any other familiar shape. (Hairs that had worked themselves inside of a pillow were responsible for tangling feathers together and the human inclination to look for familiar forms ensured that some clumps would be seen as clear evidence of the supernatural. And if some clumps only looked like half of a cat? Well, that just meant the spell was only half completed and that the victim was running out of time to stop the witch before the spell ran its fatal course!)
October 25, 2013
Author Owen Davies has written several good books in on magical and pagan subject . His work is both scholarly and objective . The book is entertaining and easy to read. His points are supported by stories and case examples.
Since the witch burnings in the British colony Salem, Massachusetts close to the present day witches or suspected witches were persecuted in one form or another . Several laws were on the books that called for the penalizing of suspected witches. While in post Salem America they were not necessarily killed they could still face flogging , jail time and the stockade.
After a bit of time legalized persecution of witches seemed to cease but suspected witches could still be victimized by vigilante and mob actions . At this point it became needed for the law to prosecute those who tormented suspected witches. Such vigilantes could be sued , jailed and even sentenced to death when a murder was involved.
Some might find it hard to believe that people were so afraid of witches during the late 1800's and early 1900's that they would be willing to go to such measures . All the races that lived in America ;Native American, African American and white European had a vision of witches as evil doers and bringers of bad luck. It also meant death for the witch.
In the 1950's the wheels of history would turn and the view of the witch would change. Coming out with a debatable historiography Gerald Gardner would explain that witches were a hold over if a pagan religion which worshipped a goddess and god. There wirks were if good . Wicca would come to America via the witch Sybil Leek. Wicca would be adopted by America and be changed by feminism and and environmentalism. Now witchcraft and Wucca are an accepted part of the American landscape.
Since the witch burnings in the British colony Salem, Massachusetts close to the present day witches or suspected witches were persecuted in one form or another . Several laws were on the books that called for the penalizing of suspected witches. While in post Salem America they were not necessarily killed they could still face flogging , jail time and the stockade.
After a bit of time legalized persecution of witches seemed to cease but suspected witches could still be victimized by vigilante and mob actions . At this point it became needed for the law to prosecute those who tormented suspected witches. Such vigilantes could be sued , jailed and even sentenced to death when a murder was involved.
Some might find it hard to believe that people were so afraid of witches during the late 1800's and early 1900's that they would be willing to go to such measures . All the races that lived in America ;Native American, African American and white European had a vision of witches as evil doers and bringers of bad luck. It also meant death for the witch.
In the 1950's the wheels of history would turn and the view of the witch would change. Coming out with a debatable historiography Gerald Gardner would explain that witches were a hold over if a pagan religion which worshipped a goddess and god. There wirks were if good . Wicca would come to America via the witch Sybil Leek. Wicca would be adopted by America and be changed by feminism and and environmentalism. Now witchcraft and Wucca are an accepted part of the American landscape.
October 20, 2020
Moderately informative book which provides a great deal of anecdotal information but too little analysis.
When he does stop to observe the witchcraft accusations/stories/incidents/law suits that followed Salem - right up to the 20th century - Davies offers that, in an immigrant nation, each new generation of Americans came to U.S. shores with its own collection of witchcraft beliefs that played out in one fashion or another. And each of these generations was unaware of earlier American history, with regard to witchcraft hysteria.
Okay.
The most interesting observations he makes are in the last few pages of the book, when he offers up his assumptions for why witchcraft accusations declined in the mid-20th century.
One assumption, not terribly original: because modern medicine provided help to those who believed in witches due to neurological dysfunction.
Davies' second assumption and a more intriguing one: the safety net provided to people through the welfare state soothed those who had suffered misfortune, and made them less likely to believe the supernatural had caused it.
Davies is British; you would think that he anticipated an American reading audience for this book. You would be wrong. The book is filled with the kind of British idomatic expressions and cultural references that make it clear he assumes the reader is from the UK.
Davies also has a habit of adding the odd, unrelated fact to the anecdotes he relates. In a paragraph about a little-known Broadway play about witchctraft with "Jean Adair playing the hex doctor's wife," had adds - apropos of nothing - that "Adair went on to play one of the aunts in the Cary Grant feature film Arsenic and Old Lace."
Okay. Again.
When he does stop to observe the witchcraft accusations/stories/incidents/law suits that followed Salem - right up to the 20th century - Davies offers that, in an immigrant nation, each new generation of Americans came to U.S. shores with its own collection of witchcraft beliefs that played out in one fashion or another. And each of these generations was unaware of earlier American history, with regard to witchcraft hysteria.
Okay.
The most interesting observations he makes are in the last few pages of the book, when he offers up his assumptions for why witchcraft accusations declined in the mid-20th century.
One assumption, not terribly original: because modern medicine provided help to those who believed in witches due to neurological dysfunction.
Davies' second assumption and a more intriguing one: the safety net provided to people through the welfare state soothed those who had suffered misfortune, and made them less likely to believe the supernatural had caused it.
Davies is British; you would think that he anticipated an American reading audience for this book. You would be wrong. The book is filled with the kind of British idomatic expressions and cultural references that make it clear he assumes the reader is from the UK.
Davies also has a habit of adding the odd, unrelated fact to the anecdotes he relates. In a paragraph about a little-known Broadway play about witchctraft with "Jean Adair playing the hex doctor's wife," had adds - apropos of nothing - that "Adair went on to play one of the aunts in the Cary Grant feature film Arsenic and Old Lace."
Okay. Again.
November 26, 2013
The Salem Witch Trials were a horrible period in history and after the witch hysteria ended there, that seemed to be it. Or so, most history books make you think that is the story. This book is about what happened after Salem: the continued belief in witches and people still being killed for supposedly being witches.
The book was interesting, very informative and I think an important read. It should be known that the people in Salem weren't the only victims of witch hysteria. The author does a good job of covering many cases of supposed witches after Salem.
I liked the book, but after a while it gets somewhat boring and that makes it a big harder to get through. It might just be me and the author's writing style just wasn't for me. However, I still recommend reading it. If you've read as much about the Salem Witch Trials as I have, this is an important book to read and let other know about.
The book was interesting, very informative and I think an important read. It should be known that the people in Salem weren't the only victims of witch hysteria. The author does a good job of covering many cases of supposed witches after Salem.
I liked the book, but after a while it gets somewhat boring and that makes it a big harder to get through. It might just be me and the author's writing style just wasn't for me. However, I still recommend reading it. If you've read as much about the Salem Witch Trials as I have, this is an important book to read and let other know about.
March 3, 2015
This what NOT what I expected. I thought it would be a silly fluffy overview of witches in pop culture, similar to some I've read on monsters. No. This is a well researched, in depth review of cases that occurred after 1692. Imagine my surprise to find chapters on The Law and Witches (opening entire new lines in my lawyer brain)! Also, there's a chapter devoted to Medicine and Witchcraft, and how mental illness, at times, may explain both the accusers and the accused.
The book is a bit dry in places, and it spends too long in some sections, and not enough in others. Still, a good three stars.
The book is a bit dry in places, and it spends too long in some sections, and not enough in others. Still, a good three stars.
August 10, 2014
A very useful overview of America and the concept of witchcraft. Apart from making us colonials look a bit gullible, this is a fine study. It is very informative and gives quite a bit of information from both newspapers of the period and trial records. Very interesting information here. Further comments may be located on my blog: Sects and Violence in the Ancient World.
September 24, 2014
Fascinating, but very dense. Skim this unless you simply must know every last detail about witchcraft in America post-Salem up through the present day. Really good, but will be daunting to most readers.
May 8, 2014
It was okay. Lots of information that I had no idea about, though it became a little boring for me... not sure why.
March 7, 2018
A fascinating topic, well chosen and well researched. While it focusses predominately on white histories, there's a real interesting inclusion of Native American histories post Salem, although without any cultural context predating colonisation this seems moot. It could also benefit from devoting as much detail to Hispanic or African-American narratives as it does to the Dutch.
Aside from these quibbles, the biggest flaw is that the text is a recount consistently - right up to the conclusion that presents an interesting thesis. Without this argument present in the rest of the book, the facts and research seem meaningless and the author needs to work harder to invite the critical reader. There's no ebb or flow other than the tide of history and that's a real shame as the last few chapters clear up some glaring myths and misconceptions.
Aside from these quibbles, the biggest flaw is that the text is a recount consistently - right up to the conclusion that presents an interesting thesis. Without this argument present in the rest of the book, the facts and research seem meaningless and the author needs to work harder to invite the critical reader. There's no ebb or flow other than the tide of history and that's a real shame as the last few chapters clear up some glaring myths and misconceptions.
November 19, 2018
Unfortunately, I read this book before I read Emerson Baker's ' A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Witch Trials'. You need to read Baker's book first. That book lays the ground work for this book which continues the history of witchcraft in the US after the Salem Witch trials. The author presents a well researched book which explains the history of witchcraft to the present day. Well worth the time and effort to read this book if you are interested in this subject.
February 23, 2019
This was an extremely dense book. I almost wish there had been an entire book written for each chapter, especially the last one.
As an overview, it was extremely informative. I mainly wish there had been more of an exploration of what connected different events together and more analysis of the events themselves, which is why I took off one star. Aside from that, it was exactly what I had expected when I checked it out from the library!
As an overview, it was extremely informative. I mainly wish there had been more of an exploration of what connected different events together and more analysis of the events themselves, which is why I took off one star. Aside from that, it was exactly what I had expected when I checked it out from the library!
October 17, 2017
I have to admit I didn't finish this book, I just didn't have time. But I wish I did! A detailed account of the intersection of folk beliefs about witchcraft and U.S. legal system. Takes into account all races and ethnic groups and all levels of government -- all the way from the colonial era to the 1940s. Fascinating.
March 13, 2021
Very informative and includes details on witchcraft beliefs throughout many different cultural backgrounds including indigenous peoples, but is an academic book and definitely reads like one as it is a bit dry in places.
Read
September 29, 2019DNF
July 1, 2015
I enjoyed and am impressed with Davies collection of information about witchcraft belief in the US; and it is a book about belief- he makes no statements about the reality of any of the witchcraft he mentions, nor is the evidence aimed at substantiating or disproving the beliefs. (It is also not a book about the development of neo-paganism.) This book records how people from America's diverse cultural backgrounds shared beliefs that there were witches: people with the ability and predisposition to harm others using supernatural means. What bothered me most in this book was the organization: it is divided into chapters on what was in laws, dealing with witches, dealing with witch believers, mental illness (as a defense having murdered a suspected witch, as well as as a way to challenge whether the maker of a disappointing will was "of sound mind"), and finishes with the changing face of witchcraft (the last 50 years), but, perhaps because of my historical background, I'd prefer a sequential presentation, although I recognize that the phenomenon change at different rates in different places.
He's collected information from newspaper accounts, laws, and folklore collections, and presents a huge number of reported incidents. What he seems to lack is a coherent thesis, to suggest what conclusions may be drawn from this collection. It's possible that it is simply that American belief in witchcraft never really went away even after Salem. On the other hand he was consistently careful to point out reporting bias of his sources. On page 162 (in the chapter on mental illness) he says: "Retrospective diagnosis can be of value. They remind us to take seriously beliefs and experiences that have been denounced as the excrescences of racial and cultural backwardness." This may be his point. While the dominant paradigm, at this point in our history, denies the reality of witchcraft, that position is a mere blip on the radar of the whole of history. Witchcraft accusations may well arise from insoluble social stresses, economic competition, religious prejudice, explanations including misunderstood diseases, mental illness, and psychological effects such as suggestion. These factors may have been misused as evidence to support belief in witchcraft, but those who believed were not necessarily uneducated nor unintelligent. While deploring trickery and use of violence (and especially spectral evidence), we should not dismiss those who believed in witchcraft- either as fools, or as statistical outliers.
Our forefathers believed in magick as a source of otherwise inexplicable problems in their lives. Culturally the users (generally claiming to use their abilities to combat witches and other malign forces)called themselves herb doctors, hex doctors, root gatherers/workers, conjurers or conjure doctors, medicine men, hexwomen/doctor, root workers, hoodoo doctor/ess,wangateur, pow wow, witch doctor, witch/hexmaster, curandero/s, wise woman, cunningfolk, and sometimes fortune tellers. Closely associated were the hypnotists, mesmerists, magnitizers, psychomotrists, spiritualists, and mediums that proliferated before laws restricting healing excluded patent medicine makers and quack doctors (and let's not forget gypsies, nor that many churches performed healing ceremonies). (Oddly, he doesn't seem to have mentioned dowsers or water witches.) Every culture, indigenous or immigrant, seems to have brought it's own witchcraft beliefs which sometimes stayed within the subculture, and sometimes mixed in the "melting pot".
I was a bit disappointed in his final chapter on modern developments, (he probably considered it well covered in other books). While he covers the media from Bewitched, to Harry Potter, he doesn't punctuate it with the same sort of news stories that fill the rest of the book. It's not like witches of various sorts aren't still around and people aren't still worried about them. It's just been complicated.
All in all, this is well worth reading, and it may be a asset not a liability that he leaves us to draw our on conclusions. I took it from the library, and am buying a copy to have as a reference on the laws and other content, and I will be seeking out other books of his, so I guess the organizational flaws don't bother me too much.
He's collected information from newspaper accounts, laws, and folklore collections, and presents a huge number of reported incidents. What he seems to lack is a coherent thesis, to suggest what conclusions may be drawn from this collection. It's possible that it is simply that American belief in witchcraft never really went away even after Salem. On the other hand he was consistently careful to point out reporting bias of his sources. On page 162 (in the chapter on mental illness) he says: "Retrospective diagnosis can be of value. They remind us to take seriously beliefs and experiences that have been denounced as the excrescences of racial and cultural backwardness." This may be his point. While the dominant paradigm, at this point in our history, denies the reality of witchcraft, that position is a mere blip on the radar of the whole of history. Witchcraft accusations may well arise from insoluble social stresses, economic competition, religious prejudice, explanations including misunderstood diseases, mental illness, and psychological effects such as suggestion. These factors may have been misused as evidence to support belief in witchcraft, but those who believed were not necessarily uneducated nor unintelligent. While deploring trickery and use of violence (and especially spectral evidence), we should not dismiss those who believed in witchcraft- either as fools, or as statistical outliers.
Our forefathers believed in magick as a source of otherwise inexplicable problems in their lives. Culturally the users (generally claiming to use their abilities to combat witches and other malign forces)called themselves herb doctors, hex doctors, root gatherers/workers, conjurers or conjure doctors, medicine men, hexwomen/doctor, root workers, hoodoo doctor/ess,wangateur, pow wow, witch doctor, witch/hexmaster, curandero/s, wise woman, cunningfolk, and sometimes fortune tellers. Closely associated were the hypnotists, mesmerists, magnitizers, psychomotrists, spiritualists, and mediums that proliferated before laws restricting healing excluded patent medicine makers and quack doctors (and let's not forget gypsies, nor that many churches performed healing ceremonies). (Oddly, he doesn't seem to have mentioned dowsers or water witches.) Every culture, indigenous or immigrant, seems to have brought it's own witchcraft beliefs which sometimes stayed within the subculture, and sometimes mixed in the "melting pot".
I was a bit disappointed in his final chapter on modern developments, (he probably considered it well covered in other books). While he covers the media from Bewitched, to Harry Potter, he doesn't punctuate it with the same sort of news stories that fill the rest of the book. It's not like witches of various sorts aren't still around and people aren't still worried about them. It's just been complicated.
All in all, this is well worth reading, and it may be a asset not a liability that he leaves us to draw our on conclusions. I took it from the library, and am buying a copy to have as a reference on the laws and other content, and I will be seeking out other books of his, so I guess the organizational flaws don't bother me too much.
June 16, 2013
First sentence: "Nineteen people executed, one man pressed to death during interrogation, and four others perished in gaol."
Most Americans like to pretend that the persecution of witches and belief in witchcraft magically disappeared when the Salem Witch trials ended. We like to think that after that we were much more civilized than our European counterparts and moved past the belief of a silly fantasy like witchcraft. Nothing could be more wrong. In this book, Owen Davies tells the story of witchcraft across America. It was not limited to the Puritan colonies in the North or the uneducated, backwoods, Bible thumpers of the South. So-called "witches" were persecuted and killed as far north as Alaska and as far south as New Mexico. All American ethnic groups found themselves inundated with witchcraft believers at some point in history. And not just ancient history either. A woman was tried for witchcraft in the State of Delaware in the 1950s. This book tells the fascinating tale of witchcraft in America.
I found this book to be a highly researched, but readable and enjoyable story. I was a little concerned when I first took this book from the library that it would be some sort of religious tract, either a Evangelical take on how witchcraft is still destroying America or a Wiccan story of how all those persecuted as witches were really just followers of an ancient pagan religion. Thankfully, this book is an objective take on why people believed in witches, why certain people were persecuted as witches, and how legal, medical, and religious institutions tried to handle both the belief in witchcraft and the persecution of those believed to be witches. The book includes many anecdotes from all across the United States which are used to illustrate the author's points and give the reader an idea of the context of witch persecution (it was very interesting for me to read the stories from my own backyard). The book is not a quick read by any means, but it is very well put together and very informative.
This book could have received 4 or 5 stars in my book but for one glaring issue. You would think a book put out by Oxford University Press would be pretty well edited and grammatically correct wouldn't you? Well you would be wrong. There were way too many instances of "their" being used for "there" and "of" instead of "off." The author would refer to a person by one name and in the next paragraph as another name and then back to the first name again. For example, Parnell would become Purnell and then back to Parnell. I can forgive an author one or two slips, but more than that and it just becomes ridiculous. This book was written and published in England for crying out loud, where the grammar rules were born. The Queen would not approve of this abuse of the Queen's English.
This is a good book for someone wanting a scholarly history of witchcraft in the United States.
Most Americans like to pretend that the persecution of witches and belief in witchcraft magically disappeared when the Salem Witch trials ended. We like to think that after that we were much more civilized than our European counterparts and moved past the belief of a silly fantasy like witchcraft. Nothing could be more wrong. In this book, Owen Davies tells the story of witchcraft across America. It was not limited to the Puritan colonies in the North or the uneducated, backwoods, Bible thumpers of the South. So-called "witches" were persecuted and killed as far north as Alaska and as far south as New Mexico. All American ethnic groups found themselves inundated with witchcraft believers at some point in history. And not just ancient history either. A woman was tried for witchcraft in the State of Delaware in the 1950s. This book tells the fascinating tale of witchcraft in America.
I found this book to be a highly researched, but readable and enjoyable story. I was a little concerned when I first took this book from the library that it would be some sort of religious tract, either a Evangelical take on how witchcraft is still destroying America or a Wiccan story of how all those persecuted as witches were really just followers of an ancient pagan religion. Thankfully, this book is an objective take on why people believed in witches, why certain people were persecuted as witches, and how legal, medical, and religious institutions tried to handle both the belief in witchcraft and the persecution of those believed to be witches. The book includes many anecdotes from all across the United States which are used to illustrate the author's points and give the reader an idea of the context of witch persecution (it was very interesting for me to read the stories from my own backyard). The book is not a quick read by any means, but it is very well put together and very informative.
This book could have received 4 or 5 stars in my book but for one glaring issue. You would think a book put out by Oxford University Press would be pretty well edited and grammatically correct wouldn't you? Well you would be wrong. There were way too many instances of "their" being used for "there" and "of" instead of "off." The author would refer to a person by one name and in the next paragraph as another name and then back to the first name again. For example, Parnell would become Purnell and then back to Parnell. I can forgive an author one or two slips, but more than that and it just becomes ridiculous. This book was written and published in England for crying out loud, where the grammar rules were born. The Queen would not approve of this abuse of the Queen's English.
This is a good book for someone wanting a scholarly history of witchcraft in the United States.
January 24, 2013
3 1/2 stars...
My Review: I received an advanced reader copy for purposes of an honest review from Net Galley. My opinions are my own and are in no way influenced by receiving this book.
In my life I've lived in two cities much affected by the American history of witchcraft. One is New Orleans where I was born and raised for much of my life, with voodoo and witchcraft as much a part of my blood as gumbo and Mardi Gras. After Hurricane Katrina, I migrated northward to Massachusetts where I now live only 20 minutes from Salem itself, the very epicenter of the American Witchcraft craze. And that was why I chose to review this book, because witchcraft didn't end in 1692. True witchcraft, as a religion, and a way of life, continues on to this very day, whether it be called Wicca, witchcraft, or by another name.
This book brought to light many facts about the history of witchcraft in America that I was unaware of. I found the book to be very detailed, but at the same time, very dry. This would be a great book for research purposes but don't expect to be able to curl up and immerse yourself in another person's life. I can see having this book on your bookshelf, but not re-reading it over and over. However, it doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy it.
My Review: I received an advanced reader copy for purposes of an honest review from Net Galley. My opinions are my own and are in no way influenced by receiving this book.
In my life I've lived in two cities much affected by the American history of witchcraft. One is New Orleans where I was born and raised for much of my life, with voodoo and witchcraft as much a part of my blood as gumbo and Mardi Gras. After Hurricane Katrina, I migrated northward to Massachusetts where I now live only 20 minutes from Salem itself, the very epicenter of the American Witchcraft craze. And that was why I chose to review this book, because witchcraft didn't end in 1692. True witchcraft, as a religion, and a way of life, continues on to this very day, whether it be called Wicca, witchcraft, or by another name.
This book brought to light many facts about the history of witchcraft in America that I was unaware of. I found the book to be very detailed, but at the same time, very dry. This would be a great book for research purposes but don't expect to be able to curl up and immerse yourself in another person's life. I can see having this book on your bookshelf, but not re-reading it over and over. However, it doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy it.
November 23, 2014
So! You really thought the witch panic ended in America with the great embarrassment that was Salem. Actually it did not. Oh sure, maybe there were no more legal hangings, but the spectre of magic and witchcraft has hung around to this very day.
Only this time it played out differently. Many witchcraft cases were described as "reversed": people accused of being witches suing those making the slanderous accusations.
You also had people taking the law into their own hands, and murdering those they believed had bewitched them in some way.
The influence of witch doctors, medicine men, root doctors and other folk healers kept the fires of evil magic alive by convincing people that witches were about. The cultures of the German immigrants and other Europeans as well as those of Africans and Native Americans contained deep roots concerning the supernatural powers of malevolent people. This was incredibly hard to stamp out with education, doctors, and preachers. It led to violence that tore up communities.
So if you've grown tired of reading books on the witch scare of the 16th and 17th centuries, this exhaustive book will give you something new to chew on concerning witch beliefs in the times after the "official" witch craze was over. At least in America.
Only this time it played out differently. Many witchcraft cases were described as "reversed": people accused of being witches suing those making the slanderous accusations.
You also had people taking the law into their own hands, and murdering those they believed had bewitched them in some way.
The influence of witch doctors, medicine men, root doctors and other folk healers kept the fires of evil magic alive by convincing people that witches were about. The cultures of the German immigrants and other Europeans as well as those of Africans and Native Americans contained deep roots concerning the supernatural powers of malevolent people. This was incredibly hard to stamp out with education, doctors, and preachers. It led to violence that tore up communities.
So if you've grown tired of reading books on the witch scare of the 16th and 17th centuries, this exhaustive book will give you something new to chew on concerning witch beliefs in the times after the "official" witch craze was over. At least in America.
September 11, 2013
I gave this three stars only because it wasn't what I thought it would be and maybe that is why I did not enjoy it.
The title and brief summary lead me to believe that is was about the persecution of witches/wise women in America after Salem. That was not the case.
The book talked about those "proclaimed" witches, wizards, medicine men/women that were killed, fined or punished in some way and how such educated people could still believe in such nonsense. The impression that I got from the book was that the author wasn't trying to chronicle the injustices done to these people as much as shake his head at how stupid the people who believed in it were. The book was not about true witches or the craft but tons of research on instances and incidents regarding people making accusations against others for hexes, evil eye and other such superstitious claims.
If you go into it knowing that it isn't really about anything related to the craft, then you might enjoy it. I did not and sadly I'll never get the time I spent on the book back.
The title and brief summary lead me to believe that is was about the persecution of witches/wise women in America after Salem. That was not the case.
The book talked about those "proclaimed" witches, wizards, medicine men/women that were killed, fined or punished in some way and how such educated people could still believe in such nonsense. The impression that I got from the book was that the author wasn't trying to chronicle the injustices done to these people as much as shake his head at how stupid the people who believed in it were. The book was not about true witches or the craft but tons of research on instances and incidents regarding people making accusations against others for hexes, evil eye and other such superstitious claims.
If you go into it knowing that it isn't really about anything related to the craft, then you might enjoy it. I did not and sadly I'll never get the time I spent on the book back.
January 4, 2017
This book was a lot better than I expected. It explores the definition of "witch" in American history in terms of systematic oppression of races and cultures as well as the way ignorance can be deadly. Virtually all of the races and cultures that came to America are discussed. There is a lot about Native American and African religions being deemed "witchcraft" by European invaders and how many of them were wrongly killed for being "witches". There are also a lot of different origins of things like witch bottles and herbalism and traditions brought over from different parts of the world. But I think my favorite part is the author's thinly veiled hostility toward Silver Ravenwolf at the end. That was great. I do recommend this book.
Want to read
February 24, 2016#
NC
Own in hardback.
FS: "Nineteen people executed, one man pressed to death during interrogation, and four others perished in goal."
LS: "It is time this history was taught as a lesson in how the past is not a foreign country."
NC
Own in hardback.
FS: "Nineteen people executed, one man pressed to death during interrogation, and four others perished in goal."
LS: "It is time this history was taught as a lesson in how the past is not a foreign country."
July 10, 2014
Fascinating and (very) dense overview of the cultural and legal attitudes towards the view of witchcraft after the famous trials and executions at Salem.
Read
December 1, 2013This was an extremely interesting read. The trials never ended.
Read
November 15, 2013133.43097 D2569 2013
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