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Cawthorne, Nigel, Witch Hunt: History of a Persecution. Booksales Inc., 2006. 144pp., index, illustrations.
Nigel Cawthorne is a prolific author whose nonfiction books encompass subjects as broad as Robin Hood, English law and pirates. In fact, one of Cawthorne's series of nonfiction books encompasses the sex lives of popes, emperors, and composers. Cawthorne has authored a number of works of popular fiction, too, as well as a range of historical books including those that address the Vietnam War and the Cold War. All of Cawthorne's fiction and nonfiction is addressed to a popular audience rather than a scholarly one. In Witch Hunt: History of a Persecution, Cawthorne recounts the history of the persecution of witches in Europe.
Witch Hunt: History of a Persecution presents a graphic portrait of the European witch hunts and trials, with tacit mention of the carryover into the American colonies and especially Salem. There is no argumentative thesis of Witch Hunt: History of a Persecution, which is more of a descriptive work. If the author had a thesis, it would be that the witch-hunts were an extension and manifestation of ignorance, superstition, and misogyny in European culture. The book is organized not only chronologically but geographically. Cawthorne's objective with Witch Hunt: History of a Persecution is to describe in vivid detail what specific physical horrors the persecutors meted out...
The author includes references to specific methods of torture ranging from ovens to beatings. Blood and gore contribute to the trade book quality, and make the book appealing to American readers. As a work of scholasticism, though, Cawthorne falls well short. Cawthorne does not purport to be a scholarly historian, though, so it cannot be said that the author falls short of an intended goal. However, Cawthorne's bibliography is paltry and there is a conspicuous lack of in-text and other internal citations that would have substantiated claims.
What the book lacks in meticulous academic detail and discourse, the author makes up for in gory detail. Accompanied at times by illustrations, the events that took place during the rabid witch hunts in Europe seem appalling and brutal to modern readers. Yet when taken into a greater historical perspective, it is clear that witch hunts still continue today in the likes of Guantanamo Bay. What would make Cawthorne's argument stronger would be a more global and historical perspective. Witch Hunt: History of Persecution is interesting but not as informative as it could be in terms of sheer historical analysis. For example, Cawthorne could spend more time on the role of misogyny in…
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