Book Details
- Publisher: Penguin Classic (September 30, 2014)
- Sold by: Penguin Group (USA) LLC
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00KB5BVPC
Chilling real-life accounts of witches, from medieval Europe through colonial America
From a manual for witch hunters written by King James himself in 1597, to court documents from the Salem witch trials of 1692, to newspaper coverage of a woman stoned to death on the streets of Philadelphia while the Continental Congress met, The Penguin Book of Witches is a treasury of historical accounts of accused witches that sheds light on the reality behind the legends. Bringing to life stories like that of Eunice Cole, tried for attacking a teenage girl with a rock and buried with a stake through her heart; Jane Jacobs, a Bostonian so often accused of witchcraft that she took her tormentors to court on charges of slander; and Increase Mather, an exorcism-performing minister famed for his knowledge of witches, this volume provides a unique tour through the darkest history of English and North American witchcraft.
About the Author
Katherine Howe is the author of THE PHYSICK BOOK OF DELIVERANCE DANE, which debuted at #2 on the New York Times bestseller list, was named one of USA Today's top ten books of 2009, and which has been translated into over twenty languages. In 2012 she hosted the Expedition Week special "Salem: Unmasking the Devil" on the National Geographic Channel.
Her second novel, a historical thriller set in Boston in the aftermath of the Titanic sinking entitled THE HOUSE OF VELVET AND GLASS, was released in the US in April 2012, and was a USA Today and New York Times e-book bestseller.
Her third novel, a young adult historical thriller called CONVERSION, follows a group of teenage girls who must uncover the real reason behind a mysterious outbreak at their high school. Praised as "Prep meets The Crucible," CONVERSION releases in the US on July 1, 2014.
Katherine edited of THE PENGUIN BOOK OF WITCHES, a collection of primary sources about witchcraft in English North America which appears with Penguin Classics for Halloween 2014.
A graduate of Columbia and Boston University, she lives in Massachusetts and upstate New York with her family, where she teaches at Cornell. She enjoys roaming the woods, reading, and sailing, and she looks very fetching in a pointy hat. In spring 2015 she will be the visiting writer in residence at Lenoir-Rhyne University in North Carolina. She is at work on her next novel.
Katherine Howe, the direct descendant of three accused Salem witches, is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, The House of Velvet and Glass, and the young-adult novel Conversion, a modern-day retelling of The Crucible set in a Massachusetts prep school. She teaches in the American Studies program at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.
My Thoughts
When you think of Halloween you usually think of witches, well at least I do and a witches costume is usually one of the most worn on that day of ghouls and ghostlies. Whether or not you believe in witches is up to you, but I certainly do and when there are books to read or movies/TV shows to watch, I am always right there. I love reading about witchcraft even the dark magic stuff. Witchcraft is something that has often plagued history, in most countries, but we had our own scare of it right here in the US. Salem Massachusetts, is what most people learn about in history classes in most schools. I think most people look at witchcraft as something to be feared but I believe that with education of this phenomonen we can all get a better understanding as to why people were persecuted for being witches. From the book "The first witchcraft act in England was passed in 1542, and the last anti witchcraft statute was not officially repealed until 1736." That is a 200 year span of witchcraft suspicion and persecution, pretty impressive I think. I also think in a lot of cases these people were superstitious and when something out of the ordinary happened, from a cow missing or an ill person, that the people could not explain, it was easy to accuse.
In The Penguin Book of Witches by Katherine Howe, the reader is taken upon a journey of fascination. A huge amount of resources went into the writing of this title. What do we really know of witchcraft? Usually what we have been taught and what we see in books and movies. Were there really witches? If there were, I think for the superstitious people as far back as medieval times and even earlier, witches in fact did exist for them. This book tells us the different legends and folk tales, as far back as the bible, the early colonies in particular Salem and what happened after Salem. A highly informative and entertaining book for the lover of witchcraft.
I enjoyed it and highly recommend it.
I received a copy from First to Read and I was not monetarily compensated for my review.
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