I have popped in a few bookstores recently and the metaphysical/witchcraft sections seem to only have spellbooks or lifestyle books. I’m really looking for an engaging read about evidence of the first ‘witches’ around the world and how both the perception and practice of magic has progressed through history.
I know there also have to be some good reads about the history of magic in specific time periods or locations (i.e. Salem, MA) so those recs are welcome also but wouldn’t interest me as much as a more comprehensive read. TYIA!
by frog4588
3 Comments
I would recommend one or all of Ronald Hutton’s The Witch, Susan Fair’s American Witches or Owen Davies’s Oxford History of Witchcraft and Magic, depending on which appeals to you the most!
If you fancy something more academic and substantial, the Athlone Histories of Magic in Europe have a volume that I can’t remember the specific name of but is pre-ancient history, then the other volumes get chronologically more recent. They’re good reads.
The History of Magic:
From Alchemy to Witchcraft, from the Ice Age to the Present
By Chris Gosden
​
https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/303993/the-history-of-magic-by-gosden-chris/9780241979662
“The Occult” by Colin Wilson is good for a general overview:
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/36030