About the author
Malcolm Gaskill is a British historian and professor emeritus at the University of East Anglia, known for his research on witchcraft and popular belief in early modern England and colonial America. His books include Witchfinders: A Seventeenth-Century English Tragedy, an account of the witch-hunting campaign led by Matthew Hopkins and John Stearne during the English Civil War, and The Ruin of All Witches: Life and Death in the New World, which follows a single family caught up in witch persecution in Puritan New England. He has also written Witchcraft: A Very Short Introduction for Oxford University Press, a concise survey of the subject's history and its continuing hold on the popular imagination. Gaskill's work is distinguished by its combination of narrative history with attention to the social, political, and psychological pressures that produced witch trials, and his books are widely used both by general readers and by students of early modern history.
📖 Where to start with Malcolm Gaskill
💬 What our editors say about Malcolm Gaskill's books
“This work provides a compelling, albeit academic, dissection of witchcraft’s evolution from dread to modern magic. It succeeds brilliantly in challenging the binary of fantasy versus reality, exposing how society projects fear…”
Esoterica Books editorial team, Occult literature desk · on Witchcraft: A Very Short Introduction Gaskill, Malcolm
“Gaskill delivers a rigorous, albeit grim, account that will appeal primarily to academic historians and specialists in early modern English history. The depth of archival research is commendable, offering fresh insights into the…”
Esoterica Books editorial team, Occult literature desk · on Witchfinders: A Seventeenth-Century English Tragedy
“Malcolm Gaskill delivers a meticulous and harrowing account that effectively illuminates the terrifying reality of 17th-century witch hunts. The narrative is compelling, drawing readers into the paranoid atmosphere of colonial…”
Esoterica Books editorial team, Occult literature desk · on The Ruin of All Witches: Life and Death in the New World
📋 Editions by Malcolm Gaskill in the catalog
| Edition | Year | Publisher | Pages | ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Witchcraft: A Very Short Introduction Gaskill, Malcolm | — | Oxford University Press | 160 | 9780199236954 |
| Witchfinders: A Seventeenth-Century English Tragedy | 2007 | Harvard University Press | 384 | 9780674025424 |
| The Ruin of All Witches: Life and Death in the New World | 2024 | Vintage | 336 | 9780593467107 |
