Witchcraft: A Very Short Introduction

Witchcraft: A Very Short Introduction explores why witches still feature so heavily in our cultures and consciousness. From childhood most of us develop a sense of the mysterious, malign person, usually an old woman. Tracing the history of witchcraft from the ancient world to contemporary paganism, this VSI reveals how it has meant different things to different people and that in every age it has raised questions about the distinction between fantasy and reality, faith and proof. It uses stories, court records, and myths to examine the witch-hunts of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and explores the reinvention of witchcraft — as history, religion, fiction, and metaphor.