BOOK REVIEW - Witch A Celtic Memoir
Mike
ISBN: 978-0-9552908-6-2 223 pages Paperback $18.95 (U.S.)
I dislike starting a review negatively, but by the time I reached page
13 in this book, I was already getting a metaphorical headache. On
page 13 the author refers to �THE HAMMER OF WITCHES (Malleus
Maleficarum) This was written in Latin and is the best known book
written in 1487.� No problem there. On page 13 we encounter �A book
written in 731 A.D. by The Venerable Bede called �An Ec[c]lesiastical
History of [�the� dropped from the title] English People� which later
became know as The Malleus Maleficarum.� Excuse me??!! How did a
book written by The Venerable Bede in 731 become known as a book
written by Dominican inquisitors 756 years later? The one is not the
other.
I can be fairly tolerant of others� opinions (look at my reviews at
http://www20.brinkster.com/gleasonreview) but factual inaccuracies
drive me crazy. When reading her discussion of the Salem Witch Trials
(pages 19 through 21) my headache blew totally out of proportion.
Sloppy writing? Okay, maybe I can tolerate it (��various other
provinces throughout the provinces of Massachusetts��). But �During
the winter of 1691-1692 the girls read as a pastime.�? Not blood
likely. Girls might learn to read Scripture, but not very often, and
nothing else among the common classes. �With the upsurge in
popularity of books on prophecy�� � in a Puritan minister�s
household??!! �Nineteen of the accused witches were hung and fourteen
women five men and one man who would not plea were ordered to be
crushed to death under heavy stones.�? Nineteen people were executed
by hanging (fourteen women and five men), and one individual (Giles
Corey) was ordered to be �pressed� with heavy stones to force a plea
(he never did make a plea, thus preserving his property for his
descendants), not as a method of execution. There were not nineteen
hanged and a further twenty crushed under stone, as Mr. Moore�s
writing seems to indicate. And finally �Parris and his family moved
to Massachusetts in 1697.� So they moved to Massachusetts from Salem
(Massachusetts)?
On the one hand Ms. Moore says she speaks only for herself and then
goes on to make sweeping generalized statements which are, at best,
unproveable and, at worst, controversial within the Craft community.
It would be nice if she would choose one side of the fence and stay
there instead of bouncing back and forth.
Even though this probably means the end of my reviewing books for this
publisher, I have to say that this is one of the worst books I have
read in years. The author�s ability to convey information in a clear
manner is negligible. Her references are non-existent. And her
research is seriously flawed. She may be a really nice person, but5 I
would not trust her to train students without supervision. In short,
this is one book I most heartily DO NOT recommend.