Reading Witchcraft: Stories of Early English Witches »

In this original study of witchcraft, Gibson explores the stories told by and about witches and their 'victims' through trial records, early news books, pamphlets and fascinating personal accounts. The author discusses the issues surrounding the interpretation of original historical sources and demonstrates that their representations of witchcraft are far from straight forward or reliable. Innovative and thought-provoking, this book sheds new light on early modern people's responses to witches and on the sometimes bizarre flexibility of the human imagination.

James Sharpe

Gibson's analysis of her sources is detailed, and it is a sign of the growing depth and maturity of English witchcraft history that her discussions are able to treat these obscure publications as intellectual, albeit esoteric, landmarks. Her style is lively, her material fascinating, and she asks...a number of intelligent questions about the authorship, content, composition and intent of her sources...Reading Witchcraft explores source material which has rarely received sufficiently detailed attention. It will be required reading for anyone with a serious interest in the history of witchcraft...
— Literary Review