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Rating: 
Summary: An informative book on the terrible witch hunts.
Review: Brian P. Levack explains the the causes and details surrounding the witch hunts of early modern Europe. He writes very clearly about this historical phenomenon which claimed 100,000 lives according to his reasonably conservative estimates.Levack looks at the role of the Church, of the economy, the social structures, and other institutions of the day and how they laid forth preconditions from which witch hunts sparked when crops went bad or someone became sick. But in this supposed comprehensive investigation, Levack does one major disservice. The vast majority of convicted witches were women and this doesn't seem to concern Levack. This fact isn't important. He doesn't seem to think gender issues are important. Only briefly does he attend to this fact and lighly attributes this to conflict between women (because women are always at each other's throats and so will more readily accuse each other of witchcraft than men would) and because women were less able to ! defend themselves. But Levack ignores the fact that women were seen as more sinful during that time. Like Eve, they were considered more apt to be tempted by Satan. They were "carnal beings" who couldn't get enough sex. These also happened to be the crimes of witches. Crimes of birth control and women healers were seen as witchcraft, a crime that was punished more severely than a murder by a man. Torture of female witches was often very sexual. (Witch's breasts were cut off. Convicted women were burned in key areas with hot pokers.) This book is an okay place to START to learn about the witch trials. But I would recommend reading other books that give light to the role of gender, such as Anne L. Barstow's book: Witchcraze.
Rating: 
Summary: Best Summary of Modern Research
Review: During the 70's and 80's, a flood of new information on historical witchcraft became available. Levack's book is the best survey of this new data, which has revolutionized our understanding of the Great Hunt. It's not a very "daring" book; it sticks to the facts, to the things we're sure about. There isn't a lot of speculation in it. But it's a great antidote to the badly researched books, like Anne Barstow's _Witchcraze_, which flood the popular market.
Rating:
Summary: Best Summary of Modern Research
Review: During the 70's and 80's, a flood of new information on historical witchcraft became available. Levack's book is the best survey of this new data, which has revolutionized our understanding of the Great Hunt. It's not a very "daring" book; it sticks to the facts, to the things we're sure about. There isn't a lot of speculation in it. But it's a great antidote to the badly researched books, like Anne Barstow's _Witchcraze_, which flood the popular market.
Rating:
Summary: Very scholorly
Review: I am taking Mr. Levack's classat UT, and of course this book is required reading. Regardless I would probably have gotten the book sooner or later. It is AMAZING. Extremely detailed, delves into both the magical and legal proceedings on the Witch hunt. The focus is on WHY something like this happened, and I feel Mr. Levack is incredibly inciteful in his ideas.
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