Witchcraft: A History in Thirteen Trials

This is a national bestseller that presents a detailed and thought-provoking global history of witch trials across Europe, Africa, and the Americas. It examines thirteen distinct trials, including both notorious events like the Salem witch trials and less widely known instances such as a 1620s case on Norway's Vardø island involving an indigenous Sami woman accused of murder, a 1731 trial in France that marked the nation's last witch trial with a young woman against her confessor, and a 1948 execution of local leaders in Lesotho by British colonial authorities. This inventive work, described by The Times Literary Supplement as compelling, highlights the evolving perceptions of witchcraft—from fear to decriminalization—and its redefinition as gendered persecution.

This book may contain a sharpie mark on the top or bottom edge and may show mild signs of shelfwear.