The material on witchcraft is voluminous. The references given below represent a small sample of the work done by modern historians on the wave of witchcraft trials in Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries and the Salem witchcraft trials of 1692. I have not attempted to list any books from the large anthropological literature on witchcraft in other cultures nor have I listed books that explore the medical and psychological experiences of being bewitched.
Barstow, Anne Llewellyn. Witchcraft: A New History of the European Witch Hunts. (*) NY: Pandora, 1994. An explicit feminist treatment of the witch hunts, one that places needed emphasis on the fact that women were the usual victims and that this must be seen as part of a broader pattern of hatred of women in this (and other) periods.
Briggs, Robin. Witches and Neighbors: The Social and Cultural Context of European Witchcraft. Viking, 1996. A distinguished British historian argues that there were fewer killings of witches than usually supposed, that in most cases there was no witch craze as that term has generally been understood, and that the causes of the killings were complex and not reducible to a single formulaic explanation. A good, but lengthy, place to begin.
Boyer, Paul & Nissenbaum, Stephen. Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft. Harvard University Press, 1974. This book emphasizes the political struggles in colonial Salem Village and the impact on who accused whom.
Cohn, N. Europe's Inner Demons. Basic Books, 1975. A classic treatment of the European witch trials which argues against the possibility that most accused witches were actually practicing witchcraft.
Demos, John. Entertaining Satan: Witchcraft and the Culture of Early New England. Oxford University Press, 1982. This account emphasizes the psychology of generational conflict between the young accusers and the older accused.
Hansen, Chadwick. Witchcraft at Salem. George Braziller, 1969. A now somewhat dated but useful history of the Salem trials. Hansen has been criticized for placing too much emphasis on the possibility that at least some accusations were true and not enough on the social and psychological features of the community.
Hill, Frances. A Delusion of Satan: The Full Story of the Salem Witch Trials. Doubleday, 1995. A readable yet sophisticated recent analysis.
Klaits, Joseph. Servants of Satan: The Age of the Witch Hunts. Indiana U. Press, 1985. A general account that places the witchcraft trials in the larger economic and especially religious context of the times. It gives some attention to the nature of victims and accusers.
Starkey, Marion L. The Devil in Massachusetts. (*) Dolphin, 1949. This is an older treatment that is meant for the general reader and does not benefit from modern scholarship on the social, political, and cultural conditions in Salem Village. It is a bit fanciful in places, but it remains perhaps the most engrossing introduction to the Salem witchcraft trials.
