Review of Ronald Hutton's "The Witch: A History of Fear"

What is it about?

Pomegranate readers who are familiar with Ronald Hutton’s The Tri- umph of the Moon: A History of Modern Witchcraft—whose twentieth anniversary was just celebrated by the publication of a Festschrift volume, Magic and Witchery in the Modern West (2019)—as well as essays and books touching on the development of modern Pagan traditions of Wicca and Druidry, might be expecting more of the same. But The Witch is not that book. Propelled partially by Hutton’s own concerns about the persistence of witch-hunting and witchcraft executions in parts of Africa and Asia, it begins in a more contempo- rary framework with a chapter titled “The Global Context” but ulti- mately circles back to the problems of studying the European and witch trials, specifically those of the British Isles.

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Why is it important?

A review of the latest book by the UK's preeminent historian of ancient and contemporary witchcraft.