I was really excited to read American Witches.
I was also a little skeptical as I started it.
This book looks at the most famous witch hunt of US history, the Salem Witch Trials, but also so much more. Chapters are broken down chronologically and go from the first witches found in the US, or coming to the US all the way to the Blair Witch Project film. Fair focuses on the men and women who were persecuted because of their race or their religious beliefs.
You also hear about folklore that permeated communities, such as the Pennsylvania Dutch Pow-Wow. All of these stories give us a wider view of our past, including parts of history that we often ignore. This means talking about America’s early desire for religious freedom. As long as you were the same religion as everyone else. If not, you’re a witch. Or about the women who turned to witchcraft and fortunetelling to support their families. Or about the murders that were strongly connected to witchcraft and people in the same community cursing one another.
So, why in the world was I so skeptical?
Working in a historic home, I am very aware of all the things that are happening in our world. It also means that I am very aware of all the people in the world who publish information to the public without citing or referencing where they found this information.
So, I’ll be honest, I was a bit skeptical when I could only find a very small bibliography at the back and no footnotes (Chicago style is history’s version of MLA format, for those who don’t know). My hometown had a history writer, who also wrote a lot about the home I work for, and nothing in any of the books is cited. We have no idea where she’s getting this information, and I was slightly terrified this would be the same.
However, I do have to say that I was wrong. I’ve looked into bits and pieces of the stories told by Susan Fair and I’ve been able to find lots of scholarly articles to back up just any everything written.
American Witches is fun, informational, and snarky. Fair not only has researched, but she’s also having fun with her history. She makes fun of Cotton Mather, jokes about the Blair Witch Project, and is very honest about our thoughts about the unusual things did in our past.
She does something I’ve noticed with many female social historians: she’s enjoying herself. I’ll be the first to acknowledge that I don’t read many non-fiction books. Usually, non-fiction books (especially on history) are rarely written with a narrative or a conversational tone. Instead, Fair has fun and is silly with her writing.
I would highly recommend this book for anyone who likes some unusual history and having some fun while learning.
***
American Witches
By: Susan Fair
Genre: Historic Non-Fiction
Publication: 2016
ASIN: B01HDVC1CI
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Price: $9.99 ebook/$15.63 paperback