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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
Dry but interesting read. Focus was judicial witch-hunt but only brief mention of extrajudicial witch-hunting which may have been (?) very different
dark
informative
reflective
slow-paced
It's probably not fair to star rate this as it's aimed at an academic audience and I dropped History the first year of college, and my knowledge Middle/Early Modern Europe is limited to what I picked up studying English lit.
The first half of the book is taken up with the causes, intellectual, judicial, social, and religious, of the witch-craze. These sections were excellent and were also a great primer for my afore mentioned loose grasp of European history. Later in the book I found my eyes glazing over a bit especially during the chronology and geography section. But these sections may be the 'meat' of the book as far as the scholars are concerned. Who knows.
All in all a good, if dense, read for those looking for an fairly in depth look at the European witch hunts.
The first half of the book is taken up with the causes, intellectual, judicial, social, and religious, of the witch-craze. These sections were excellent and were also a great primer for my afore mentioned loose grasp of European history. Later in the book I found my eyes glazing over a bit especially during the chronology and geography section. But these sections may be the 'meat' of the book as far as the scholars are concerned. Who knows.
All in all a good, if dense, read for those looking for an fairly in depth look at the European witch hunts.
The man, the myth, the legend. Brian P Levack is my favorite witch-loving historian to read. I love how he writes, he’s so systematic in his treatment of a massive body of material. He makes everything so clear, he points out common misconceptions and holes in our knowledge while not sacrificing the overall impression of his scholarship. So pleased to finally finish this one.
challenging
dark
informative
slow-paced
Amazing introduction into this field of historical study. Recommended even to my non-history-nerd friends.
The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe by Brian Levack (1995)
informative
slow-paced
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
I see now why this is considered the definitive text in the witch trials. Levack is clear on the outrageous nature of the crimes committed by those who hunted, tried and executed accused witches. He presents both hard facts and his theories and explanations in an extremely clear and intelligible and systematic way. This is a must-read for anyone interested in the witch trials and why they happened.