In this ground-breaking book, Professor Norman Cohn traces popular beliefs about witches to their origins. He examines the fantasies that inspired the great European witch-hunt of the 16th and 17th centuries when thousands of innocent people were tortured and burned alive. It is a fascinating history of the need to imagine antihuman conspiracies and an investigation of how those fantasies made the great European witch-hunt possible. In addition, Professor Cohn's discovery that some influential sources on witch trials were forgeries has revolutionized the field of witchcraft studies, making this one of the most essential books ever written on the subject.
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Norman Cohn is the author of many books including Noah's Flood: The Genesis Storyin Western Thought and Warrent for Genocide: The Myth of the Jewish World Conspiracy and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
“It is a brilliant book.”
—Bernard Levin, Observer
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Paperback. Condition: Good. No Jacket. Trade Paperback in Good Condition. Eight illustrative plates with Notes on each - very striking. Cover illustration of Waldesians adoring the devil in the form of a she-goat. Clean and bright pictorial wrappers, edgeworn but not heavily, spine creases; binding tight and square, all pages intact. Pages clean, moderately toned, some lines along text, a few words underlined. a few scattered notes in margins, text very clear. The author demonstrates that the notorious, massive witch-hunts of the 16th and 17th centuries were not an aberration, but a continuation of a powerful historic current. He examines the striking similarity of accusations leveled against objects of society's wrath throughout history, be they primitive Christians, Waldensian dissenters, the Knights Templar, or so-called witches. This study brings understanding to some of the worst horrors of history, but also a recognition of a danger that is far from dead. xviii, 304 pages with Editorial Foreword, Preface, Note on the Illustrations, Postscript: Psycho-historical speculations, Bibliographical Notes, and Index. 5.25 x 8. 1977, Meridian/New American Library, USA. Seller Inventory # 022619
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