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45 reviews for:
How to Kill a Witch: The Patriarchy's Guide to Silencing Women
Claire Mitchell, Zoe Venditozzi
4.35 AVERAGE
45 reviews for:
How to Kill a Witch: The Patriarchy's Guide to Silencing Women
Claire Mitchell, Zoe Venditozzi
4.35 AVERAGE
dark
informative
medium-paced
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced
As someone with a great love and interest in books about the history of witchcraft, this may be one of my favorites - it does a great job highlighting the women at the center of it all, explaining the process, giving the reader an understanding of the structures of power (laws, government, etc) that allowed for this to happen (one of the authors is a lawyer) and then also wrapped it up by illustrating how things like this aren’t distant history but relevant to today. Highly recommend!
challenging
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emotional
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fast-paced
challenging
dark
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Well-written, easy to read and (obviously) makes a great point: Scotland’s witches, and witches in general, should be remembered and lessons have to be learned from the witch trails. That being said, this book lacked nuance in many areas. To name one example: around the 80-90 page mark, the authors cite a historian they’ve spoken to about John Knox. She mentions research isn’t clear about how ‘sexist’ he really was; from a modern day standpoint he is, but back then he expressed opinions many had, and was good friends with a few women as well. But the authors write ‘despite [her] take on Knox, his sexism, to us, runs very deeply’, followed by cherry picking The First Blast of the Trumpet ánd claiming only Mary Queen of Scots was affected by this (multiple women were!). His story is far more nuanced than the authors claim, but they decide to sidestep historians to make this segment fit their overall point. To top it all off, Knox gets his own fictional mini chapter in this book, where he performs a truly villanous speech. And the authors don’t just do this with Knox either: this cherry picking also goes for James I’s writings, how women were perceived, witch hunts outside of Scotland (why mention the US, mention Ireland and Norway briefly but then claim Scotland is in this aspect completely different from every other country?), … and that’s only the stuff I’ve had lectures on and/or written 2 thesis’ about.
Midway through explaining historic events, the authors also put in ‘funny’ things that are meant to take us back to reality, like comparing past events with the present, and frequently writing down things along the lines of ‘ugh, men, right’ or ‘wow people those days’. That’s just… not necessary. I do appreciate that they’re bringing POC into this, and their anger and call for action is justified. But when they mention how someone wanted to burn Harry Potter books, they happen to completely gloss over JKR’s statements recently. I’m sorry, but you can’t keep bringing little sidenotes and links to the present into the mix, raising your voice for all women, and then casually mention the Harry Potter books without raising your voice for trans women, too.
This nuance also lacked in how the authors view popular culture surrounding witches. You’d think the authors would be pleased with people coming to see witches’ scales or visiting Salem, but according to them this can only be ‘dark tourism’. And yeah, if someone goes to Salem to ‘enjoy’ this history and get a kick out of it, then that’s not ethical. But if people visit to learn more about this history, to have it make an impact on them by being there and realising it’s not a fictional place… why wouldn’t we want that? They mention visiting battlefields, cemeteries and castles counts as dark tourism too, because obviously you can’t simply be interested in the history of these places.
I’ve found that popular books about witches often lack nuance. They’re written from a point of (totally justified!) activism, but then obscure some of the nuances. That’s the case here too. The authors speak to historians and researchers who support their work and whom they’re on good terms with, but if someone else contradicts this view that’s not worth investigating further. This book’s activism, however justified this is, seems one-sided, and to top it all off, one of the later chapters features an AI artwork (made by someone else, but still, whyy??). If you’re unfamiliar with this timeperiod or witch trials in general you’ll probably really enjoy this, but I found this lacking.
Midway through explaining historic events, the authors also put in ‘funny’ things that are meant to take us back to reality, like comparing past events with the present, and frequently writing down things along the lines of ‘ugh, men, right’ or ‘wow people those days’. That’s just… not necessary. I do appreciate that they’re bringing POC into this, and their anger and call for action is justified. But when they mention how someone wanted to burn Harry Potter books, they happen to completely gloss over JKR’s statements recently. I’m sorry, but you can’t keep bringing little sidenotes and links to the present into the mix, raising your voice for all women, and then casually mention the Harry Potter books without raising your voice for trans women, too.
This nuance also lacked in how the authors view popular culture surrounding witches. You’d think the authors would be pleased with people coming to see witches’ scales or visiting Salem, but according to them this can only be ‘dark tourism’. And yeah, if someone goes to Salem to ‘enjoy’ this history and get a kick out of it, then that’s not ethical. But if people visit to learn more about this history, to have it make an impact on them by being there and realising it’s not a fictional place… why wouldn’t we want that? They mention visiting battlefields, cemeteries and castles counts as dark tourism too, because obviously you can’t simply be interested in the history of these places.
I’ve found that popular books about witches often lack nuance. They’re written from a point of (totally justified!) activism, but then obscure some of the nuances. That’s the case here too. The authors speak to historians and researchers who support their work and whom they’re on good terms with, but if someone else contradicts this view that’s not worth investigating further. This book’s activism, however justified this is, seems one-sided, and to top it all off, one of the later chapters features an AI artwork (made by someone else, but still, whyy??). If you’re unfamiliar with this timeperiod or witch trials in general you’ll probably really enjoy this, but I found this lacking.
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexual violence, Violence
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hopeful
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dark
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced