Witches and Neighbours

Fülszöveg

Reviews of the previous edition / 'In this learned and meticulously researched book, Robin Briggs lays to rest many of the modern myths about the witch craze, without in any way diminishing its horror ... Briggs skilfully shows how the myths of witchcraft were linked with.fundamental humán experiences of pain and anxiety ... Lucid and important/ Karén Armstrong, The Times , ^ . 'Briggs provides a fascinating psychological insight into the ideological system that produced the trials. To understand them within their own historical context, he argues, is to realize that a belief in the witches' power was neither irrational nor absurd ... the evidence from thisjcompelling book suggests that humán actions are far more determined by irrational fears than our social selves are willing to accept.' Júlia Wheelwright, New Statesman Witches and Neighbours is a highly originál and unconventional analysis of a fascinating historical phenomenon. Unlike other studies of the subject which focus on... Tovább

Fülszöveg

Reviews of the previous edition / 'In this learned and meticulously researched book, Robin Briggs lays to rest many of the modern myths about the witch craze, without in any way diminishing its horror ... Briggs skilfully shows how the myths of witchcraft were linked with.fundamental humán experiences of pain and anxiety ... Lucid and important/ Karén Armstrong, The Times , ^ . 'Briggs provides a fascinating psychological insight into the ideological system that produced the trials. To understand them within their own historical context, he argues, is to realize that a belief in the witches' power was neither irrational nor absurd ... the evidence from thisjcompelling book suggests that humán actions are far more determined by irrational fears than our social selves are willing to accept.' Júlia Wheelwright, New Statesman Witches and Neighbours is a highly originál and unconventional analysis of a fascinating historical phenomenon. Unlike other studies of the subject which focus on the mechanisms of persecution, this book presents a rich picture of witchcraft as an allpervasive aspect of life in early modern Europe. Robin Briggs combines recent research with his own investigations to produce a brilliant and compelling accöunt of the central role of witchcraft in the past. Although the history of witchcraft can only be studied through records of the persecutions, these reveal that trials were unusual i-n everyday life and that witchcraft can be viewed as a form of therapy. Witchcraft was alsó an outiét for the expression of many of the fundamental anxieties of society and individuals at a time when life was precarious. The book argues that witchcraft - its belief and persecutions - cannot be explained by generál causes but was as complex and changing as the society of which it förmed a vitai part. Since its originál publication in 1996, this book has become the standard work on the subject of witchcraft. It now appears in a revised edition with an updated bibliography. Robin Briggs is Senior Research Fellow at Ali Souls College, Oxford, where he has worked since his election as Prize Fellow in 1964. He was educated at Felsted School and Balliol College, Oxford and is the author of The Scientific Revolution of the Seventeenth Century (1970), Early Modern Francé (2nd edition, 1998) and Communities of Belief: Cultural and Social Tensions in Early Modern Francé (1989). i Cover illustration: Goya, The Spell, c. 1798, oilon canvas. Museo Lazaro Galdiano, Madrid / photo AKG London. Cover design by Workhaus ( Vissza