Malcolm Gaskill is Reader in Early Modern History at the University of East Anglia. Until 2007, he was Fellow and Director of Studies in History at Churchill College, Cambridge, before which he lectured at three other UK universities. An expert in the history of witchcraft, he has written extensively about beliefs, accusations, trials, and confessions, as well as about modern spiritualism. He is the author of three other books: Crime and Mentalities in Early Modern England (2000) - shortlisted for the Longman/History Today Book of the Year award, 2000; Hellish Nell: Last of Britain's Witches (2001); and Witchfinders: a Seventeenth-Century English Tragedy (2005). In 2009 he was a Mayers Fellow at the Henry E. Huntington Library in San Marino, California, and is currently writing a book about English mentalities in seventeenth-century America. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

This pocket-book eloquently and clearly introduces and summarizes the theories and theorists of the historical study of witchcraft. His account is concise enough to stand alone, but also a great introduction to the work of other scholars in the field, with excellent recommended reading.

• 1. Fear ; 2. Heresy ; 3. Malice ; 4. Truth ; 5. Justice ; 6. Rage ; 7. Fantasy ; 8. Culture ; References ; Further Reading

Malcolm Gaskill is Reader in Early Modern History at the University of East Anglia. Until 2007, he was Fellow and Director of Studies in History at Churchill College, Cambridge, before which he lectured at three other UK universities. An expert in the history of witchcraft, he has written extensively about beliefs, accusations, trials, and confessions, as well as about modern spiritualism. He is the author of three other books: Crime and Mentalities in Early Modern England (2000) - shortlisted for the Longman/History Today Book of the Year award, 2000; Hellish Nell: Last of Britain's Witches (2001); and Witchfinders: a Seventeenth-Century English Tragedy (2005). In 2009 he was a Mayers Fellow at the Henry E. Huntington Library in San Marino, California, and is currently writing a book about English mentalities in seventeenth-century America. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

This pocket-book eloquently and clearly introduces and summarizes the theories and theorists of the historical study of witchcraft. His account is concise enough to stand alone, but also a great introduction to the work of other scholars in the field, with excellent recommended reading.

• 1. Fear ; 2. Heresy ; 3. Malice ; 4. Truth ; 5. Justice ; 6. Rage ; 7. Fantasy ; 8. Culture ; References ; Further Reading

Malcolm Gaskill is Reader in Early Modern History at the University of East Anglia. Until 2007, he was Fellow and Director of Studies in History at Churchill College, Cambridge, before which he lectured at three other UK universities. An expert in the history of witchcraft, he has written extensively about beliefs, accusations, trials, and confessions, as well as about modern spiritualism. He is the author of three other books: Crime and Mentalities in Early Modern England (2000) - shortlisted for the Longman/History Today Book of the Year award, 2000; Hellish Nell: Last of Britain's Witches (2001); and Witchfinders: a Seventeenth-Century English Tragedy (2005). In 2009 he was a Mayers Fellow at the Henry E. Huntington Library in San Marino, California, and is currently writing a book about English mentalities in seventeenth-century America. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

This pocket-book eloquently and clearly introduces and summarizes the theories and theorists of the historical study of witchcraft. His account is concise enough to stand alone, but also a great introduction to the work of other scholars in the field, with excellent recommended reading.

• 1. Fear ; 2. Heresy ; 3. Malice ; 4. Truth ; 5. Justice ; 6. Rage ; 7. Fantasy ; 8. Culture ; References ; Further Reading