Description
Book SynopsisIn this original study of witchcraft, Gibson explores the stories told by and about witches and their 'victims' through trial records, early news books, pamphlets and fascinating personal accounts. The author discusses the issues surrounding the interpretation of original historical sources and demonstrates that their representations of witchcraft are far from straight forward or reliable. Innovative and thought-provoking, this book sheds new light on early modern people's responses to witches and on the sometimes bizarre flexibility of the human imagination.
Table of ContentsIntroduction; Part 1 Records; Chapter 1 Ghost-writers—dialogue, interrogation and the production of the records of witchcraft; Chapter 2 Witchcraft trials and a methodology for reading them; Chapter 3 Deconstructing generic stories; Part 2 Pamphlets; Chapter 4 ‘Necessary’ and ‘triviall’ pamphlets; Chapter 5 Prefaces; Chapter 6 An Open Conclusion, or ‘Where do we go from here?’;
