American Witches: A Broomstick Tour Through Four Centuries

Name: American Witches: A Broomstick Tour Through Four Centuries
Price: 23.00 USD
Availability: InStock
Author: Fair, Susan
ISBN: 9781510703803

✍️ Fair, Susan

☆ Reader reviews: none yet — be the first

23 $

📚 ABOUT THE BOOK

America's witch history: stranger, wilder, and utterly unforgettable.

Forget preconceived notions of Salem; Susan Fair’s *American Witches* plunges readers into the unsettling, often bizarre, true accounts of witchcraft throughout four centuries of American life. This compelling journey unearths forgotten incidents, from avenging livestock to perplexing, violent crimes, revealing how deeply the fear and belief in magic shaped the nation's social fabric. Fair meticulously documents the peculiar and sometimes gruesome episodes that have been largely overlooked, offering a unique, unfiltered perspective on the extraordinary history of the occult in the United States, far beyond common folklore.

Key themes

{'title': 'Unconventional Witchcraft History', 'body': 'This volume moves beyond the well-trodden paths of colonial witch trials, delving into lesser-known, often bizarre, instances of accused sorcery and supernatural phenomena across centuries. It highlights how perceptions of witchcraft evolved, manifesting in unexpected ways through various eras of American history, far from the stereotypical images.'} {'title': 'American Folklore & Oddities', 'body': "The book serves as a remarkable compendium of America's strangest historical anecdotes tied to the occult. It explores the peculiar manifestations of magical belief, from bewitched animals seeking revenge to unsettling criminal cases attributed to dark powers, showcasing the rich, often unsettling, tapestry of American folk beliefs and superstitions."} {'title': 'Social & Cultural Impact', 'body': 'Fair illuminates how fear, paranoia, and belief in witchcraft profoundly influenced American communities and legal systems. It examines the social dynamics at play during periods of accusation and supernatural incident, offering insight into the cultural anxieties and moral panics that shaped historical events and human interactions across the nation.'}

In stock

🏛 Skyhorse Publishing 📅 2016 📖 336 pages 📔 Hardcover 📐 Hardcover ISBN: 9781510703803

Fun fact

Fair excels at unearthing obscure tales, making this a fascinating read for those seeking the unconventional and often dark corners of American history. However, readers expecting a guide to modern pagan practice or a purely academic treatise on specific magical traditions might find it lacks that focus, as its strength lies in its historical narrative and cataloging of bizarre events. It stands as a unique, often darkly humorous, contribution to American folklore studies, proving that our past is far stranger than fiction and full of forgotten mysteries.

📝 Description: American Witches: A Broomstick Tour Through Four Centuries

The history of American witches is way weirder than you ever imagined. From bewitched pigs hell-bent on revenge to gruesome twentieth-century murders, American Witches reveals strange incidents of witchcraft that have long been swept under the ...

⭐ Reader reviews

The starting rating comes from the team Esoterica Books — add yours →

⭐ Esoterica editorial review Editorial rating 4.6/5

★★★★★

If you're fascinated by the hidden underbelly of American history, crave tales that defy explanation, or seek to understand the enduring human relationship with the supernatural, this book is an essential acquisition for your collection. Prepare to be both enlightened and genuinely unnerved.

Reader rating

Reviews yet. Be the first!

❓ Frequently asked questions

No, this book primarily explores historical incidents of witchcraft accusations and beliefs in America, rather than contemporary spiritual practices like Wicca. Its scope is historical, delving into the societal impact and strange occurrences of the past.

Prepare for a diverse collection of peculiar and often unsettling narratives, ranging from alleged animal curses and spectral visitations to bizarre criminal investigations where witchcraft was a central theme, spanning four centuries of American history.

📖 Who should read this

🎯 Key themes and symbolism

Unconventional Witchcraft History

This volume moves beyond the well-trodden paths of colonial witch trials, delving into lesser-known, often bizarre, instances of accused sorcery and supernatural phenomena across centuries. It highlights how perceptions of witchcraft evolved, manifesting in unexpected ways through various eras of American history, far from the stereotypical images.

American Folklore & Oddities

The book serves as a remarkable compendium of America's strangest historical anecdotes tied to the occult. It explores the peculiar manifestations of magical belief, from bewitched animals seeking revenge to unsettling criminal cases attributed to dark powers, showcasing the rich, often unsettling, tapestry of American folk beliefs and superstitions.

Social & Cultural Impact

Fair illuminates how fear, paranoia, and belief in witchcraft profoundly influenced American communities and legal systems. It examines the social dynamics at play during periods of accusation and supernatural incident, offering insight into the cultural anxieties and moral panics that shaped historical events and human interactions across the nation.

💬 Quotes from the book

«The true horror wasn't always the spell itself, but the chilling conviction that fueled its perceived power, twisting ordinary lives into extraordinary tragedies.»

«From vengeful swine to spectral accusations, America's fear of the witch often manifested in the most peculiar, unsettling ways, leaving a trail of bizarre incidents in its wake.»

📜 Historical context

This work stands firmly within the tradition of social history, particularly examining the intersection of folklore, belief systems, and judicial processes in the American context. It enriches the broader understanding of witchcraft studies by expanding beyond European narratives and colonial New England, highlighting the unique trajectory of magical belief in a developing nation, from its earliest settlements to the modern era.

📚 Glossary

Witchcraft
Folklore
Esotericism

📔 Questions to reflect on

{'question': "How do the 'weird' and unusual incidents presented in the book challenge your preconceived notions about American history and the role of the supernatural?"}
{'question': 'Consider a modern-day equivalent of the social anxieties or superstitions described. How might similar beliefs manifest in contemporary society, and what could be their impact?'}
{'question': 'The book details how belief in witchcraft shaped communities. Reflect on how collective beliefs, whether spiritual or secular, continue to influence societal structures and individual experiences today.'}