Enemies of God: The Witch-Hunt in Scotland

by Christina Larner

For many years the European witch craze of the 16th and 17th centuries was considered a subject of almost "bad taste" to study. Then came World War II and a genocide which was the greatest convulsion of evil the world had ever seen. Scholars realized that the witch cult was still with us. This is the story of how a rapidly growing and civilized European nation could turn on itself in a frenzy of violence, and marginalize and kill its own people in a hysteria which became both self-perpetuating and self-justifying; of how otherwise sober and intelligent people could defend this killing, and of how a state could use mass murder as an instrument of state policy.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Religion, Scotland, Witches, Witchcraft

244 pages, Paperback

First published November 24, 1983

Reviews

[Teri Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really 3.5 stars, but only because it occasionally falls into the trap of so much academic work of summarising what has already been said more than once. Overall I found this a really readable and interesting overview of 200 years of witch-hunting as a method of social control. I would like to see more time spent on the gender dynamics of social systems and witch-hunting, but in a book of this scope I think she touched on that as much as was possible without making it a much longer work.

[J.M. Gale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not an easy read but a fascinating one. Early chapters were very dry but there are extensive transcripts from trials and a thorough explorations of the community in terms of belief and social structure.

[Athenaïse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for my thesis. Very academic but I would recommend it if you want to explore feminist literature on witch-hunting.