Why do people believe in witchcraft, vampires, spirits, and, er, flying nuns? How did emotions play a vital part in these beliefs in history and are people from the past not too different from today’s more rational society? This book seemed overly academic for the general reader and went deeper into Catholicism and the Puritans than I would have liked. It was definitely a more Christianity themed book and more focused on witch trials than the blurb suggested. Witchcraft is, I understand, the author’s special topic. The chapter on witch pardons was very interesting, as even today, distant descendants seek recognition and closure. As the author writes, there wasn’t even a consensus on what witches were, but that spikes in persecutions followed times of upheaval. It still continues today, in some countries. Certainly it was a thought-provoking read, but a little difficult to understand at times. I felt that the coverage of the themes was uneven, and some of the witch chapters could have been about other magical or mysterious things that people believe in. I also wasn’t sure what the author meant when he lectured at length about all the emotion in history. It seemed like a merger between psychology and history that wasn’t really interesting to me. It’s a worthwhile book, but wasn’t quite what I expected.

Published by Profile, 2026.