Candice Savage's new book WITCH: The Wild Ride From Wicked to Wicca takes us
on a wild and wicked ride through time. This informative history of witches
and witchcraft takes us back to the 16th and 17th centuries through to modern
times. Containing everything from flying broomsticks to magical spells, this
book offers plenty of history with an artistic twist.
One of the first things I noticed about WITCH was the book's interesting
cover. The cover, featuring a 1607 painting by Frans Francken the Younger,
depicts the activities of witches and magicians as described in the scholarly
literature of the time. As I explored deeper, I began to find that one of the
most unique features of WITCH is the art contained within its pages. Each
piece of art focuses on the central theme of witches and witchcraft and
consists of paintings, pictures, and illustrations that range in date from
the 1900s all the way back to the 1400s. Much of the art featured was created
in the specific era being covered, other pieces simply depict specific events
that occurred in the era. Overall, the images add a very nice touch to the
book and tie in nicely with the book's historical content.
The book as a whole is broken up into five different sections. The first
section introduces a variety of facts pertaining to witches and how the fear
of witchcraft came about. The book states that between fifty to one hundred
thousand people were murdered by church and state for crimes most of us today
would consider trivial. The book also goes on to say that although figures as
high as nine million deaths have been attributed to witchcraft, those numbers
are not supported by any actual evidence.
Most of those accused of witchcraft were poor, and the majority of them were
old and friendless. It also says that 80 percent of those put to death were
either women or girls. The book describes in detail the witch panic and
traces it from the 1400s all the way through the Salem Witch Trials to the
1700s. Supposedly, the last person to be executed for witchcraft in western
Europe as Anna Goldi, who was executed in 1782.
Overall, this book offers an abundance of interesting facts and history
pertaining to witches and witchcraft in almost every facet imaginable. From
black cats to the modern day practice of Wicca, it's all here. Candace Savage
brings to light a history that has been shrouded in mystery for way too long.
--- Reviewed by Jonathan P. Lamas (jonlamas@aol.com)
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