Reviews for Witch Hunt: History of a Persecution - Nigel Cawthorne - Hardcover

The average rating for Witch Hunt: History of a Persecution - Nigel Cawthorne - Hardcover based on 2 reviews is 2.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-03-03 00:00:00 Kabayan Gaul While very informative, the books suffers in that Cawthorne cannot present any facts in an interesting manner, unless it is told from the point-of-view of an eyewitness (journal entries, letters, court testimony, etc.) While I'm grateful to see a book that concentrates on the European side of witch hunting, I'm sure a scan through the "Suggested Reading" in the back of the book will yield far more interesting accounts than this dreadful piece of non-fiction. The European experience is talked about for the majority of the piece. Perhaps Cawthorne's intent was to focus on this and assume his readers are well-informed of the Salem witch trials. That being said, I don't think this is an excuse to focus on Salem for less than five pages. The accounts that readers might not know of are, at best, presented in a lackluster manner, as they are simply stated briefly before moving on to another instance of witch hunting. As a result, one walks away from this book able to recall only the most graphic of witch hunts across Europe. The book could be redeemed as a great source for researchers; in other words, if you're looking for a starting point for your own project, this might be a good place to begin. Actually, I should say it would be a good starting point if Cawthorne cited a single source. All we are given is the "Recommended Reads" in the back of the book, which I assume is a piss-poor excuse for a bibliography. The laziness of not citing comes off as lack of professionalism on the writer's part and the reader is forced to take everything stated with a grain of salt. This lack of professionalism continues to be advanced upon the reader by the grammatical and spelling mistakes running rampant throughout the text. In fact, there are very few pages (if any) that are free from error. It boggled my mind how so many mistakes in structure and verb tense could exist in this book that I was forced to check the front of the book and verify that it had an editor. Amazingly, it did. If you're casually interested in finding out more about the witch hunting craze, this might be informative; however, be cautious going in that it will be repetitive and boring. If you're more than just casually interested in the subject, I would do a little more research and find something better. It shouldn't be too hard.

Review # 2 was written on 2011-10-04 00:00:00 Shawn Holmes If you ever wanted a can't-put-this-book-down history of witches and witchhunts, then this is the book for you. Even the cover screams out in vibrant red colour, forcing you to look at the subject. The author does a nice job here. Even though I know he writes many books focused on sensational disaster-type subjects, he has it down pat. He takes the reader through the persecution of witches in different countries and how those specific areas handled the tortures and stake burnings. He will even note where certain cities and city-states would refuse to persecute witches, even when the country or nation was doing it wholeheartedly. There is a chapter on Father Grandier, who was burned at the stake when he dared challenge Richelieu. The information on the entire history of witch hysteria relating to profit-making by the persecutors is astonishing. We look upon the history of witches as something in the past, but it really came about due to people (mostly women) who lived outside the norm or challenged the political system. Book Season = Autumn (tail of the night)