The Penguin Book of Witches

September 15, 2014

Howe (The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane) provides a collection of historical accounts of witchcraft, dating from medieval Europe to early 19th-century America. With insightful notations and a central focus on the Salem witch trials, the book proposes that persecution and executions for the suspicion of witchery in Colonial America were not anomalies. Howe cites biblical references, legal proceedings, and an actual witch-hunting manual to posit that the fear of witches and witchcraft was part of mainstream culture during that period rather than an isolated phenomenon. She draws upon documents such as court testimony and newspaper accounts to explain that colonists' ancestral familiarity with the subject grew into a hysteria that resulted in the Salem trials as well as persecutions for witchcraft in the United States well into the 1800s. VERDICT Recent titles such as Lois Martin's The History of Witchcraft (2010) provide an accessible, albeit brief, overview of a well-covered phenomenon. The antiquated writing style of some of the original documents in Howe's collection is challenging, however, this superbly edited and annotated work provides in-depth material for those interested in the origins of witchcraft persecution in America.--Mary Jennings, Camano Island Lib., WA

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