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Paul B. Moyer: Detestable and Wicked Arts
October 29, 2020 @ EST 7:30 pm - 8:00 pm
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Focusing on witchcraft cases in New England, roughly 1640 – 1670, Detestable and Wicked Arts places the region’s battle against black magic in a transatlantic perspective. Informed by studies on witchcraft in early modern Europe, Moyer presents a useful synthesis of scholarship on occult crime in New England, and provides an accessible, comprehensive examination of witch prosecutions in the Puritan colonies: how their English inhabitants understood the crime of witchcraft, why some people ran a greater risk of being accused of occult misdeeds, and how gender intersected with witch-hunting.
“Paul B. Moyer’s study illuminates crucial issues such as the relationship of diabolic and malefic conceptions of witchcraft, the role of gender in witchcraft accusations, and the distinguishing characteristics of witch panics. Detestable and Wicked Arts significantly expands our understanding of the always intriguing topic of New England witchcraft.” — Mary Beth Norton, author of 1774
Paul B. Moyer is Professor of History at SUNY Brockport. He is the author of Wild Yankees and The Public Universal Friend.