Reviews

Witchcraft: A History in Thirteen Trials by Marion Gibson

giro_revuescope's review

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challenging informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

My opinion veers wildly up and down depending on the chapter and the first couple were ROUGH but the later ones are largely better. Kinda like...baffled as to why Montague Summers was there but okay. 

In general it felt more like a collection of articles than a book (which considering it is written by an academic historian is not super surprising). If anything, at least read the chapter on Salem! There is so much misinformation on Tituba (down to her name, which is likely not actually that!) so it's great to see it addressed.

marietheresle's review against another edition

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challenging dark hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

artsyydaisyy's review

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dark informative reflective fast-paced

4.0

alexmulligan's review against another edition

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adventurous informative reflective slow-paced

3.25

gremlinofthetree's review

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informative reflective slow-paced

3.5

hthrfy's review against another edition

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informative reflective medium-paced

3.75

dany_oche's review against another edition

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informative mysterious sad medium-paced

4.0

floornaps's review against another edition

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3.0

It was good.

sovereign_taweret's review against another edition

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informative medium-paced

3.75

folklorian13's review

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informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

Taylor would say: „they‘re burning all the witches, even if you aren‘t one… they got their pitchforks and proof, their receipts and reasons (…) So light me up“ (i did something bad)

I‘ve always been fascinated by the idea of witches and how mostly women got hunted down for being ones (supposedly) during the middle ages. I guess I liked the indication that being able to perform magic creates a certain power that women didn‘t really possess at the time — even though it was just an illusion.
It was great to learn a bit more about the history of witch hunting. Especially, it was interesting to find out how „successful“ trials against „witches“ are mostly connected to certain factors: being a woman (that one is obvious); being poor; being disabled; not being white; having an unusual sexual orientation. I was also shocked to learn how long it took for those trials to be extinguished (except for the ones that still aren‘t, especially in african regions). 
I liked the writing style; the author really tried to connect with history on an emotional as well as factual level.