Witch Hunt: A Traveler's Guide to the Power and Persecution of the Witch

Description:

"A transcendent travelogue that guides readers through the history, places, and people of several of the many witch hunts and how their legacy continues to impact us today."
--Pam Grossman, author of Waking the Witch: Reflections on Women, Magic, and Power

Traveling through cities and sites across Italy, France, Germany, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States, Kristen J. Sollée explores the places and people significant to the early modern legacy of the witch.

Between the 15th and 17th centuries, a confluence of political, economic, and religious factors ignited a wildfire of witch hysteria in Europe and, later, in parts of America. At the heart of these witch hunts were often dangerous misconceptions about femininity and female sexuality, and women were disproportionately punished as a result. Today, this lineage of oppression remains a vital reference point in the fight for women's rights--and human rights--in the Western world and beyond.

By infusing an adventurous first-person narrative with extensive research and moments of imaginative historical fiction, Sollée (author of Witches, Sluts, Feminists) makes an often-overlooked period of history come alive. Written for armchair travelers and on-the-ground explorers alike, Witch Hunt not only uncovers the horrors of history but how the archetype of the witch has been rehabilitated. For witches are not just haunting figures of the past; the witch is also a liberatory icon and identity of the present.

This paperback edition includes a new afterword by the author and an updated travel resources section.

Brief description: Kristen J. Sollée is the author of three books on the legacy of the witch. A writer, curator, and educator exploring the intersections of art, sex, and culture, Kristen has lectured at Georgetown University, the University of Southern California, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and across the US and Europe. Her 2017 book, Witches, Sluts, Feminists: Conjuring the Sex Positive was described by The Guardian as "a whirlwind history of the witch in America" and a "Must-Read" by BUST. Kristen's work has also been featured in NYLON, Hazlitt, the Times Literary Supplement, and on Viceland, Huffington Post Live, and NPR. She currently teaches at The New School in New York City.

Review Quotes: "Sorceresses of ancient Rome casting love spells with their menstrual blood. Joan of Arc speaking to angels. The cunning women of Ireland and their flying ointments. The witches of Kristen Sollée's new book teach us how to live magically. Impeccably researched and keenly felt, to read this book is to enter into a romance with the witch. A traveler's tryst. Sollée's love of place, the moss and the cobble stones, the ocean spray and the crumbling cemeteries, puts her in a polyamorous love affair with the witch and the world in which she lives. This book makes clear that the witch is a creature of her environment. Magic is embodied. The lands through which Sollee travels contain the spirits of the people who collected herbs on their hillsides, and spoke their enchantments into the wind. But as with so many love affairs born on holiday, behind all the beauty, the heart grips in grief. We know how the story ends. The witches in this book were hunted after all. But even though we know the story of many of these witches ends in sorrow, we carry on our love affair with them anyway, because to love is to be fully alive. And none are more fully alive than the witch. It's clear that Sollée fell in love with the witches in this book. Sollée's magic is that if you read it, you will too." --Amanda Yates Garcia, author of Initiated: Memoir of a Witch and host of the Between the Worlds podcast