A review by ovvlish
A History of Witchcraft: Sorcerers, Heretics, & Pagans by Brooks Alexander, Jeffrey B. Russell

5.0

I am not even sure where to start with this book. It's incredibly well-organized and executed, for starters. It offers an honest history of the development of the idea of witchcraft from prehistoric times to the present, that both expects and dispels many incorrect assumptions that the modern era has about where witchcraft comes from (including assumptions that many modern witches themselves still hold as true). This, all while being succinct throughout and utterly respectful to modern practitioners of witchcraft, wicca, paganism, neo-paganism, etc. I highly highly recommend this book if you want a starting point for scholarly studies of witchcraft, and to be able to more clearly track the development of the modern ideas of witchcraft that are so pervasive, especially in the age of social media.