Witchcraft: A History »

From ancient times to the present, the aged, ugly crone has worked her evil magic and been burned at the stake by an outraged authority, or cured her neighbors and their animals with the help of gentle herbs and beneficent spells. Such, at any rate, is the popular picture. But not much of that picture is true. Many witches were young; many witches were men. Witches were not universally persecuted or tortured, and the period they were most at risk covered less than 100 years. So much more interesting than the cartoon stereotype, the real witch was a complex figure whose genuine story is only now starting to be unravelled.