Witchcraft: A History in Thirteen Trials

This is a book about how woo-woo and nonsensical religious beliefs that are often folded into mainstream religions can easily be weaponized to go after those with very little power with which to fight back. Keeping women in our place was/is (these horrors are still going on today as she details in later chapters), one of the primary motivations of those running the persecutions, but other motives can include the opportunity to project their sexual kinks onto others (see Freud, Sigmund) or opportunities to gain status and fame and wealth--in some places accused witches wind up enslaved--and political power through being seen as a warrior against evil (even when that evil is completely imaginary) or an excuse to go after some minority group they don't like.

Interesting and well-researched account of how women and other marginalized people have been vilified as witches for hundreds of years. It starts with witch trials in Europe and recounts how the concept of witches has evolved into modern times. In parts, the author incorporated her educated guess/opinion rather than purely sticking to fact, but it was still eye-opening and worth reading.

Witchcraft: A History in Thirteen Trails was fascinating! It tells the story of witchcraft as I have not heard it before. Rose Akroyd did a very good job of narrating. Her voice was always engaging. The book begins with the trial of Helena Scheuberin in 1485. She was acquitted. Heinrich Kramer, the prosecutor who lost, went on to write Malleus Maleficarum two years later. That book fueled murders under the charge of witchcraft. It was used to justify charges in some of the other chases listed in the book.What I found so interesting about Marion Gibson's book is the commonality among the accused. Whether they were male or female, they were for the most part powerless. They did not have wealth or social standing. Gibson reminds us that the "witches" were victims. Victims who rarely had their dignity returned after death.The reason I chose to request this book was Chapter Nine: The Trial of John Blymyer. After I had lived in the United States for about three years, I learned about the Nelson Rehmeyer. In the new neighborhood we moved into, the man across the street grew up with John Blymyer. He told his daughter and the neighborhood kids what he remembered. At no time did he blame Rehmeyer. He viewed Rehmeyer as a victim. Hearing a living history filtered through a contemporaries eyes creates a passion for history. Marion Gibson's book brought out that same passion.I received a copy of the audiobook from Simon and Schuster. I listened to it and wrote an honest review.

I am fascinated by witchcraft trials. When I was in school, I used to find any opportunity to assert opinions on controversial topics wherever I could, and one was the Salem Witch Trials and how mass hysteria can be deadly. So seeing this, I was all in.I’m struggling with this review because, though it started off decently talking about how people were persecuted for supposedly being witches, and the research was obviously extensive, as she goes on the situations of witchcraft that she speaks about seem more far-fetched. It went from a novel of situations of witchcraft persecution and turned to men controlling women in any way possible with a very weak idea that it can be similar to the references towards the beginning of the book. Maybe that was her point the entire time, however I was reading for the history of witchcraft and for me, that part was very much lacking. Another big issues is the style of writing. As stated before, she did her research and it shows, however it came across very dry a lot of times and was a struggle to focus and keep reading. It read more like I was given a school textbook to do homework from, and that’s a way of writing that I stay away from because I just don’t enjoy. I really wanted to like this book, and I did finish it, but after awhile it felt more like reading because I had to rather than reading because I wanted to.Read if you like: history of witchcraft, well researched studies

Witchcraft: A History in Thirteen Trials by Marion Gibson is a fascinating global history of witch trials across the world.Of course the Salem witch trials are included in this book, but the majority of the trials were new to me. Some of the lesser-known trials include: Norway in the 1620s, 1731 France, and even in 1929 Pennsylvania.I'm definitely keeping this one on my shelf as a reference copy. I really appreciated that there are several reference photos included in the center of the paperback version of the book. I did a blended read where I borrowed the audiobook from my library and followed along in my physical copy. That's often my preferred method for reading non-fiction. I thought Rose Akroyd did a good job narrating.If you're looking for an engrossing history read for spooky month, this is a great option!CW: references to torture, death by hanging, etc

This book delves into thirteen famous and lesser-known witch trials throughout history, exploring the evolving perceptions of witchcraft from feared crime to feminist symbol. It amplifies long-silenced voices and sheds light on the complex narrative behind societal attitudes and gendered persecution of witches over the centuries.This book takes a global view of witchcraft persecution rather than looking at it just from a European perspective. It’s fascinating and easy to understand.Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

This book is a triumph of research, composition and detail and covers such a vast period of history. It made me laugh and angry in equal measures. Gibson really deepdives into what it means to be called or classed as a witch, and how over 500 years and multiple continents, the notion of what it means to be a witch, to be hunted as a witch and to be trialled as a witch has changed, yet still looms large in the collective consciousness. Gibson's genius is not to simply cover the well worn tales of Berwick and Salem as an example but to bring to light not only fascinating insights into the persecuted figures (Tatabe being a revelation) but how other issues swirl and feed into notions of witchery and trials as societies and time progress, including into the present day, even touching on the phenomeon of 'Witchtok' and it's origins in nineteenth century mystics.This is an outstanding work and I will be telling everyone I know to read it.

This book is so clever , consise and factual in such an engaging way , i could not put it down .If you are interested in witches from history and how witchhunts are still happening then this book is a clear winner .You must read it !