War on Witchcraft (eBook)

Andrew Dickson White, George Lincoln Burr, and the Origins of Witchcraft Historiography

Jan Machielsen (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2021
Cambridge University Press (Verlag)
978-1-108-95673-4 (ISBN)

Infos

Historians of the early modern witch-hunt often begin histories of their field with the theories propounded by Margaret Murray and Montague Summers in the 1920s. They overlook the lasting impact of nineteenth-century scholarship, in particular the contributions by two American historians, Andrew Dickson White (1832-1918) and George Lincoln Burr (1857-1938). Study of their work and scholarly personae contributes to our understanding of the deeply embedded popular understanding of the witch-hunt as representing an irrational past in opposition to an enlightened present. Yet the men's relationship with each other, and with witchcraft sceptics - the heroes of their studies - also demonstrates how their writings were part of a larger war against 'unreason'. This Element thus lays bare the ways scholarly masculinity helped shape witchcraft historiography, a field of study often seen as dominated by feminist scholarship. Such meditation on past practice may foster reflection on contemporary models of history writing.

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 22.7.2021
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Gesundheit / Leben / Psychologie ► Esoterik / Spiritualität
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Religion / Theologie ► Weitere Religionen
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie
• ISBN-10: 1-108-95673-4 / 1108956734
• ISBN-13: 978-1-108-95673-4 / 9781108956734