Thank you to the Author, publishers and Netgalley for the ARC of this book in return for an honest review.

A great read and an insightful account of the history of witches and the infamous witch hunts. The author exhibits remarkable knowledge on the subject and presents the content in a highly engaging style, which brings to life the stories of witches and their trials.

However, there were a few instances where the book felt slightly repetitive, and the excessive references to Arthur Miller's The Crucible were not to my liking. It would have been great to have delved deeper into the male attitudes towards women and the societal changes that eventually led to women becoming the primary target of witch hunters.

What truly stood out for me was the author's repeated mentions of Wales throughout the text, which is often overlooked in such historical accounts.

All in all, this book is a thoroughly enjoyable read that provides valuable insights into the history of witchcraft and the witch hunts.

"Witches and Witch Hunts Through the Ages" by Phil Carradice offers a comprehensive exploration into the dark and fascinating history of witchcraft and the associated persecution spanning centuries. Carradice skillfully navigates through the intricate web of beliefs, fears, and societal structures that fueled witch hunts across different cultures and epochs. With meticulous research and engaging prose, he delves into the cultural, religious, and political contexts that shaped perceptions of witchcraft, shedding light on the lives of those accused and the often tragic outcomes they faced. Carradice's narrative is both enlightening and sobering, offering valuable insights into humanity's enduring fascination with the supernatural and the enduring consequences of mass hysteria. This book is an essential read for anyone interested in understanding the complexities of witch hunts throughout history.

This book is a well put together history of witches and witch hunts through history. It seems very well thought out and researched and when reading, I appreciated the level of detail and how the author pulls everything together. Well done! This book is essential reading for anyone interested in witches and persecution over time and how those things came about in modern culture and society.

This account explores the history of witchcraft, from its ancient origins to modern-day persecutions. Highlighting the often-overlooked wise women and men who used spells and potions for good, it also delves into the horrific witch hunts of the late medieval period and the social factors that fuel these practices.

I found this book to be a satisfying, engaging, and easy-to-read analysis of how human cultures respond to the unexplained, from healing practices to religious beliefs. The book does more than recount the history and the tragedy of past events—it also explores the complexity of human interactions and shows how modern society isn’t immune to these practices.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

This was a really good non fiction book, although it got a bit repetitive, I'm not sure that could have been avoided given the subject matter

I really enjoyed learning about the history of witches and witch hunters, as someone who loves reading about the fictional witches it is also nice to learn about the actual people who practice paganism or wicca and those who were accused of witchcraft.
I would recommend this book to those who are interested in history and/or those interested in witches.

Since school I have been interested in witches and the background of witch hunts and witch trials so it was fantastic to learn new information about witches and more detailed history than I had previously read.

"Every old woman with a wrinkled face, a furrowed brow, a hairy lip, a gobber (protuding) tooth, a squint eye, a squeaky voice or scolding tongue...a dog or cat by her side, is not only suspect but pronounced for a witch" John Gaule (1646)

This quote epitomises the sterotype of witches in the last few centuries, but what is a witch really? This was just the opinion of one clergyman in the height of witch-hunting hysteria in the 1600s, but in Phil Carradices fascinating book "Witches and Witch Hunts Through the Ages" we are taken on an extensive exploration through history to the ancient Shamans and the first perceived witch Lillith, and right the way up to the "Witch Hunt mentality" of McCarthyism, a dark time in US history.

Throughout, the writing style is engaging, explorative and intriguing, comparing perception to reality and manipulation of soceital hysteria and the effects it has on individuals. An absolutely fascinationg book and highly recommended

Thank you to Netgalley, Pen & Sword, Pen & Sword History and teh highly knowledgable author Phil Carradice for this very interesting ARC. My review is left voluntarily and all opinions are my own

#WitchesandWitchHuntsThroughtheAges #NetGalley

I've become a big fan of Pen and Sword Published works, and this book is no exception. I'm an amateur historian and I spend a lot of time doing research of niche topics that I find interesting, one of these being Witchcraft. I thoroughly enjoyed the content of this book, while also being delightfully engaged with the premise of discussing witch hunts in a more figurative sense. This book articulates what so many witchcraft scholars struggle to bring to the public's mind-- witch hunts weren't just about a moral turpitude in conservative societies, but it runs that gamut into some pretty far-flung conspiracies-- highlighting the dangers of groupthink and what it means to be afraid of questioning the loud and obviously wrong or improbable.

Thank you to the author, Phil Carradice, and the Publisher, for granting my wish and allowing me to access this book. I read it all in one sitting and I look forward to buying a physical copy for my collection.