The Enemy Within: 2,000 Years of Witch-hunting in the Western World - Couverture souple

Demos, John

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 0670019992 ISBN 13 : 9780670019991

Editeur : Viking, 2008

Synopsis

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A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

The term witch-hunt is used today to describe everything from political scandals to school board shake-ups. But its origins are far from trivial. Long before the Salem witch trials, women and men were rounded up by neighbours, accused of committing horrific crimes using supernatural powers, scrutinised by priests and juries and promptly executed. The belief in witchcraft - and the deep fear of evil it instilled in communities - led to a cycle of accusation, anger, and purging that has occurred repeatedly in the West for centuries. Award-winning historian, John Demos, puts this cultural paranoia in context. He takes readers from the early Christians persecuted in Rome through the Salem witch trials, McCarthy's hunt for communists and the hysteria around child sex-abuse cases and satanic cults in the 1980s. An original and fascinating look at the cultural, social and psychological practice of witch-hunts, THE ENEMY WITHIN illuminates the dark side of communities driven to rid themselves of evil, no matter what the cost.

Biographie de l'auteur

John Demos is Samuel Knight Professor of history at Yale University. He is the author of several histories of early America, including Entertaining Satan, which was awarded the Bancroft Prize in American History, and The Unredeemed Captive, which received the Francis Parkman and Ray Allen Billington prizes in American history and was a finalist for the National Book Award. He lives in Tyringham, Massachusetts.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Viking
• Date d'édition: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0670019992
• ISBN 13: 9780670019991
• Reliure: Broché
• Langue: anglais
• Nombre de pages: 336
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible