Witches, Feminism, and the Fall of the West

The archetype of the "witch" is burnt deep into the European psyche, recurring again and again in folklore and fairytales. But is she merely the stuff of fantasy? Roald Dahl warned that witches don't always don black hats and ride on broom sticks. They "dress in ordinary clothes, and look very much like ordinary women. . . . That is why they are so hard to catch."

In Witches, Feminism and the Fall of the West, Edward Dutton examines the history of witches and witch-hunting in light of evolu...