If you like curling up with a good non-fiction or history book on chilly autumn nights, one of these new witchcraft history books might find its way to your bookshelf! Take a look at some new arrivals:
Accused: British Witches Throughout History
Willow Winsham asks, What did it really mean to be accused as a witch? Why, and by whom, were such accusations made? Was it possible to survive, and what awaited those who did? We’ll be taken on a journey from 14th century Ireland to 20th century Hampshire. The book came out September 1st.
Accused: British Witches Throughout History, on Amazon
Accused: British Witches Throughout History, on Goodreads
A Season with the Witch: The Magic and Mayhem of Halloween in Salem, Massachusetts
This book comes out October 4, giving you plenty of time to enjoy exploring it before Halloween.
“For the fall of 2015, occult enthusiast and Edgar Award-winning writer J.W. Ocker moved his family of four to downtown Salem to experience firsthand a season with the witch, visiting all of its historical sites and macabre attractions. In between, he interviews its leaders and citizens, its entrepreneurs and visitors, its street performers and Wiccans, its psychics and critics, creating a picture of this unique place and the people who revel in, or merely weather, its witchiness.”
A Season with the Witch: The Magic and Mayhem of Halloween in Salem, Massachusetts, on Amazon
A Season with the Witch Review at Publishers Weekly
The Occult, Witchcraft and Magic: An Illustrated History
Christopher Dell presents the curious history of magic and the powers of the occult, witchcraft, ritual, and the imagination, from their earliest appearances to modern times. Topics include: Alchemy, Astrology, Chaos Magic, Divination, Folk Magic, Grimoires, Kabbalah, Love Magic, Necromancy, Phantasmagoria, Runes, Shamanism, Talismans, Tarot, Voodoo, Wicca. This book comes out October 18. It features an incredible amount of illustrations – over 400, 300 of them in color.
The Occult, Witchcraft and Magic: An Illustrated History, on Amazon
The Occult, Witchcraft and Magic: An Illustrated History, at Goodreads
More info on the book at Thames and Hudson.com
Haunted: On Ghosts, Witches, Vampires, Zombies, and Other Monsters of the Natural and Supernatural Worlds
Leo Braudy explores how fear has been shaped into images of monsters and monstrosity. From the Protestant Reformation to contemporary horror films and fiction, he explores four major types: the monster from nature (King Kong), the created monster (Frankenstein), the monster from within (Mr. Hyde), and the monster from the past (Dracula). Drawing upon deep historical and literary research, Braudy discusses the lasting presence of fearful imaginings in an age of scientific progress, viewing the detective genre as a rational riposte to the irrational world of the monstrous. The book arrives October 25, 2016.
American Witches: A Broomstick Tour through Four Centuries
Susan Fair’s book came out in late August. I’m quite intrigued to read this one. Check out why:
“On a tour through history that’s both whimsical and startling, we’ll encounter seventeenth-century children flying around inside their New England home “like geese.” We’ll meet a father-son team of pious Puritans who embarked on a mission that involved undressing ladies and overseeing hangings. And on the eve of the Civil War, we’ll accompany a reporter as he dons a dress and goes searching for witches in New York City’s most dangerous neighborhoods.”
American Witches: A Broomstick Tour through Four Centuries, on Amazon
American Witches: A Broomstick Tour Through Four Centuries, at Goodreads
–Copyright 2016 Goth Shopaholic