Waking the Witch: Reflections on Women, Magic, and Power (Witchcraft Bestseller)

by Pam Grossman

That the male captains of industry and institution are the ones who tend to use the term the most is ironic to say the least. During the witch hunts of Western Europe and the New England colonies, tens of thousands of people—most of them female—were persecuted for witchcraft they almost definitely didn’t practice by citizens who usually had far more power than they did. These so-called witches were in fact victims of religious propaganda, paranoia, and scapegoating, not to mention they were usually of lower social and economic status than the magistrates and religious leaders who put them on trial and, in many cases, condemned them to death on entirely false charges. In contrast, there is ample reason for legitimate suspicion, if not outright conviction, of many of the very powerful men who are now acting like aggrieved Salem villagers. And while their livelihoods may be at stake (pardon the pun), their lives are not.