author: Thomas Robisheaux
name: Elaine
average rating: 2.83
book published: 2009
rating: 3
read at: 2009/05/29
date added: 2009/05/30
shelves: history, psychology, religion, sociology
review:
A curious and very detailed history of the last witch-burning in part of Germany, in 1672. The time period — in an overlap between the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the modern era — provides for a strange treatment of the problem of witches. In places it reads like a murder mystery, although we never actually get to find out whodunit. In places, it’s a treatise on early modern law and medicine. I also learned a bit more about the Thirty Years War and the Treaty of Westphalia. (That last is a bit of an injoke at MetaFilter, so it’s nice to get some context!) Writing can be a bit dense in places.