Witchcraft: A History in Thirteen Trails was fascinating! It tells the story of witchcraft as I have not heard it before. Rose Akroyd did a very good job of narrating. Her voice was always engaging. The book begins with the trial of Helena Scheuberin in 1485. She was acquitted. Heinrich Kramer, the prosecutor who lost, went on to write Malleus Maleficarum two years later. That book fueled murders under the charge of witchcraft. It was used to justify charges in some of the other chases listed in the book. What I found so interesting about Marion Gibson's book is commonality among the accused. Whether they were male or female, they were for the most part powerless. They did not have wealth or social standing. Gibson reminds us that the "witches" were victims. Victims who rarely had their dignity returned after death. The reason I chose to request this book was Chapter Nine: The Trial of John Blymyer. After I had lived in the United States for about three years, I learned about the Nelson Rehmeyer. In the new neighborhood we moved into, the man across the street grew up with John Blymyer. He told his daughter and the neighborhood kids what he remembered. At no time did he blame Rehmeyer. He viewed Rehmeyer as a victim. Hearing a living history filtered through a contemporaries eyes creates a passion for history. Marion Gibson's book brought out that same passion. I received a copy of the audiobook from Simon and Schuster. I listened to it and wrote an honest review.
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Categories
All
Archives
August 2023
|