Customer Review: Witchcraze: A New History of the European Witch Hunts
J.E. Sawyer
2.0 out of 5 stars an insult to those who suffered
Reviewed in the United States on May 10, 2000
As others have written, Barstow's book lazily glosses over exceptions to her theory of witch-hunting as woman-hunting. I find this book to be disappointing on an academic level and a personal level. The most common figure one will find in this book lies in the quantitative data presented at the back of the book -- 75%. According to Barstow's sources, around 75%-80% of the people tried and killed were witches. Was there a bias against women? Certainly. Much like the bias against women that made them likely to be mystics of affective piety (something which few men ever were declared). Was witch-hunting woman-hunting? No way. Witch-hunting crossed gender lines, class lines, and religious lines. If witch-hunting were woman-hunting, we should see 100% listed for female prosecutions and executions across the board. To claim otherwise is to cheapen the deaths of thousands of men in a way that, quite frankly, disgusts me. In simple terms, Barstow seems to be unwilling to do what talented academics like Ginzburg demand that we do -- discriminate on the basis of microhistory. If you want to get a good grasp on witch-hunting, read Kors & Peters' compilation of primary source materials ("Witchcraft in Europe,") Edward Peters' "Inquisition," Joseph Klaits' "Servants of Satan," Wunderli's "The Drummer of Niklashausen," Hsia's "Myth of Ritual Murder," Ginzburg's "The Night Battles" and any other book that treats the subject with respect.