"This is a useful collection of material on witchcraft."
--" Journal of World History"
"This is undoubtedly one of the best reference works ever
published on witchcraft. Breslaw, fresh from her well-received
revisionist history "Tituba: Reluctant Witch of Salem," brings
together work by some of the best-known scholars of the field,
including Elizabeth Reis, Carol Karlsen, John Demos, Paul Boyer,
Stephen Nissenbaum and David Hall. She organizes primary sources
(including the 1486 manifesto "Why Women Are Chiefly Addicted to
Superstitions") and insightful secondary essays around topics of
European, Native American and African witchcraft. The anthology is
to be applauded for its commitment to representing cultural
variance--showing how, for example, indigenous American magical
traditions differed greatly from tribe to tribe. Breslaw's
awareness of diverse cultural contexts highlights the multiple
functions that witchcraft and anti-witchcraft served in individual
communities."
--Publishers Weekly
.,."covers a tremendous amount of spatial and temporal
ground."--"Maryland Historical Magazine"
This unique anthology is the first to provide a multicultural
perspective on witchcraft from the 15th to 18th century. Featuring
primary documents as well as scholarly interpretations," Witches of
the Atlantic World" builds upon information regarding both
Christian and non-Christian beliefs about possession and the
demonic. Elaine G. Breslaw draws on Native American, African, South
American, and African-American sources, as well as the European and
New England heritage, to illuminate the ways in which witchcraft in
early America was an attempt to understand and control evil
andmisfortune in the New World.
Organized into sections on folklore and magic, diabolical
possession, Christian perspectives, and the question of gender, the
volume includes selections by Cotton Mather, Matthew Hopkins, and
Samuel Willard, among others; Salem trial testimonies; and
commentary by a host of distinguished scholars.
Together the materials demonstrate how the Protestant and
Catholic traditions shaped American concepts, and how multicultural
aspects played a key role in the Salem experience. Witches of the
Atlantic World sheds new light on one of the most perplexing
aspects of American history and provides important background for
the continued scholarly and popular interest in witches and
witchcraft today.
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