 How to Kill a Witch: The Patriarchy's Guide to Silencing Women, by Zoe Venditozzi and Claire Mitchell.
This is mostly a history of the Scottish witch hunts in the 16th and 17th centuries, by two Scottish podcasters. I'd known the witch hunts were more savage in Europe than in the American colonies, but holy crap. The authors note that while the popular image of witch hunts is a mob with pitchforks and torches, the reality was more cold-blooded and legalistic. The rules of evidence for witchcraft were ludicrous, but they gave a veneer of credibility to the process. For instance, any wart or skin tag could be deemed the "devil's mark," and there were professional "witch-prickers" credited with finding them. The authors walk us through each step: accusation, interrogation (torture, which usually led to confession), trial and execution. The footnotes provide historical detail and some gallows humor. They note that misogyny played a large role: those accused of witchcraft were likely to be "quarrelsome" women, those who didn't fit the feminine ideal, and the most powerless people, such as widows and impoverished women. They also discuss the famous Salem witch trials in Massachusetts, noting that the first person accused was an enslaved woman. The authors note that the patterns - misogyny, and targeting the most vulnerable before expanding the attack to others - have, ahem, parallels today. Trigger warning for torture. 52 Book Club Challenge: 2025 award winner. Booklist Queen Challenge: Goodreads Choice Award winner. This Challenge Killed the Bookworm: Witchcraft.
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