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      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        July 1999

        Witchcraft, magic and culture 1736–1951

        by Owen Davies

        The only serious study of witchcraft and magic from 1736 to 1951 Brings together matters ranging from upper class spiritualism to rural witchcraft in an exciting and intellecually stimulating way Essential reading for all social historians and all h. . . . ;

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        July 2018

        Witchcraft narratives in Germany

        Rothenburg, 1561–1652

        by Joseph Bergin, Alison Rowlands, Penny Roberts, William G. Naphy

        Looks at why witch-trials failed to gain momentum and escalate into 'witch-crazes' in certain parts of early modern Europe. Exames the rich legal records of the German city of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, a city which experienced a very restrained pattern of witch-trials and just one execution for witchcraft between 1561 and 1652. Explores the social and psychological conflicts that lay behind the making of accusations and confessions of witchcraft. Offers insights into other areas of early modern life, such as experiences of and beliefs about communal conflict, magic, motherhood, childhood and illness. Offers a critique of existing explanations for the gender bias of witch-trials, and a new explanation as to why most witches were women.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        October 2024

        The Malleus Maleficarum

        by Peter Maxwell-Stuart

        A shocking glimpse into the mind of a medieval witch hunter. In 1487, the zealous Dominican inquisitor Heinrich Kramer wrote a treatise that would have a remarkable influence on European history. Blaming women for his own lust, and frustrated by official complacency before what he saw as a monstrous spiritual menace, Kramer penned a practical guide to aid law officers in the identification and prosecution of witches. Fusing theology, lurid anecdotes and advice for those engaged in combating sorcery, The Malleus Maleficarum transports the reader into the dark heart of medieval belief - where fear of the supernatural provokes a gripping struggle for understanding and control. Kramer's book led to the burning of numerous innocents and had a lasting impact on the popular image of witchcraft. It remains a sinister symbol of fanaticism and cruelty to this day.

      • Trusted Partner
        Literature & Literary Studies
        June 2020

        The Malleus Maleficarum

        by P. G. Maxwell-Stuart

        The Malleus Maleficarum is one of the best-known treatises dealing with the problem of what to do with witches. It was written in 1487 by a Dominican inquisitor, Heinrich Institoris, following his failure to prosecute a number of women for witchcraft, it is in many ways a highly personal document, full of frustration at official complacency in the face of a spiritual threat, as well as being a practical guide for law-officers who have to deal with a cunning, dangerous enemy. Combining theological discussion, illustrative anecdotes, and useful advice for those involved in suppressing witchcraft, its influence on witchcraft studies has been extensive. The only previous translation into English, that by Montague Summers produced in 1928, is full of inaccuracies. It is written in a style almost unreadable nowadays, and is unfortunately coloured by his personal agenda. This new edited translation, with an introductory essay setting witchcraft, Institoris, and the Malleus into clear, readable English, corrects Summers' mistakes and offers a lean, unvarnished version of what Institoris actually wrote. It will undoubtedly become the standard translation of this important and controversial late-medieval text.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        June 2002

        The Scottish witch-hunt in context

        by Julian Goodare

        A collection of essays on Scottish witchcraft and witch-hunting, which covers the whole period of the Scottish witch-hunt, from the mid-sixteenth century to the early eighteenth. Includes studies of particular witchcraft panics such as a reassessment of the role of King James VI. Covers a wide range of topics concerned with Scottish witch-hunting and places it in the context of other topics such as gender relations, folklore, magic and healing, and moral regulation by the church and state. Provides a comparative dimension of witch-hunting beyond Scotland - one on the global context, and one comparing Scotland with England. It is a showcase for the latest thinking on the subject and will be of interest to all scholars studying witchcraft in early modern Europe, as well as the general reader wanting to move beyond shallow and sensational accounts of a subject of compelling in. ;

      • Trusted Partner
        Literature & Literary Studies
        October 1999

        The Witch of Edmonton

        by William Rowley, Thomas Dekker and John Ford

        by Peter Corbin, David Bevington, Douglas Sedge

        The Witch of Edmonton has received considerable attention recently both from scholars and critics interested in witchcraft practices and also from the directors in the theatre. The play, based on a sensational witchcraft trial of 1621, presents Mother Sawyer and her local community in the grip of a witch-mania reflecting popular belief and superstition of the time. This edition offers a thorough reconsideration of the text with a complete transcription of the original pamphlet by Henry Goodcole. This edition will be of particular interest not only to students of Renaissance Drama but also of the cultural history of the seventeenth century.. Open University adopted text (for their new Renaissance Drama module). ;

      • Trusted Partner
      • Trusted Partner
      • Trusted Partner
        2020

        MARA

        The Autistic Child

        by Chimène Ngoukam, Akira Junior

        Since her birth, Mara has been a curiosity for the whole village. She has difficulty expressing herself, walking and fitting in. The bad tongues even accuse her of being a victim of witchcraft... and yet this is not the case. The little girl suffers from autism.

      • Fiction

        The Roots of All Evil

        by Paola G. Gasca

        A black and white photograph; a little girl; a small town. Dolores and Jacinta are sisters-in-law who cope with parallel grief. Dolores cannot seem to find a place inside her husband’s heart, not a simple life as she is surrounded by children. Jacinta carries the burden and sadness of being unable to get pregnant. It will be Inés, one of Dolores’ daughters, who strikes the balance and determines the destiny, love, and loss path not only of those women, but of the entire town. The Roots of All Evil happens in a town where hate is so deeply grounded, and where stories get tangled up with superstition, and where the roots of both touch each other, to the point where reality is suspended between veils of evil and sheer coincidence.

      • Trusted Partner
        The Arts
        April 2011

        Postnationalist African Cinemas

        by Alexie Tcheuyap

        Postnationalist African cinemas convincingly interrogates the ways in which African narratives locate postcolonial identities and forms beyond essentially nationalist frameworks. It investigates how the emergence of new genres, discourses and representations, all unrelated to an overtly nationalist project, influences the formal choices made by contemporary directors. By foregrounding the narrative, generic, discursive, representational and aesthetic structures of films, this book shows how directors are beginning to regard film as a popular form of entertainment rather than political praxis. Tcheuyap investigates filmic genres such as comedy, dance, crime and epic alongside cultural aspects including witchcraft, sexuality, pornography and oracles. ;

      • Trusted Partner
        Literature & Literary Studies
        December 2019 - December 2024

        The Classic of Mountains and Seas

        by Chen Mingzhen

        Shanhaijing is a book that records ancient Chinese mythology, history, geography, plants, animals, minerals, products, witchcraft, religion, medicine, folk custom and nationality. The cultural phenomena reflected in it are all inclusive. In addition to the abundant mythological materials, it also involves many academic fields, such as philosophy, aesthetics, religion, history, geography, astronomy, meteorology, medicine, animals, plants, minerals, folklore, ethnology, geology, oceanography, psychology, Anthropology Wait a moment. Under the condition of underdeveloped ancient culture, science and technology and transportation, Shanhaijing is a wonderful book with the most myths recorded in China, and also an ancient encyclopedia.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        August 2009

        Martin del Rio

        INVESTIGATIONS INTO MAGIC

        by P. Maxwell-Stuart, Sarah Purdue

        This is the first English translation of one of the most important, interesting and comprehensive discussions of the occult sciences ever published. Investigations into magic deals not only with magic in all its forms, from the manipulation of angelic and demonic powers to straightforward conjuring and illusion, but also with witchcraft, alchemy, astrology, divination, prophecy, and possession by evil spirits. In addition, Del Rio gives judges and confessors practical advice on the most effective ways of dealing with people who are accused of practising magic, and enlivens his whole discussion with anecdotes drawn from a remarkable range of sources, including his own experience. Nothing so panoramic had ever appeared before, and for the next one hundred and fifty years Investigations into magic was the indispensable reference work on the subject. ;

      • Trusted Partner

        Siete Plantas.

        Historias de la gente sin nombre

        by Diana Obando, Sara Muñoz

        “This book is a ferment.” It gathers the stories of seven plants and the experiences of a group of women who cultivated their relationship with them during a deep study process. Their encounter produced a system that weaves analogies between the body itself and how non-human people relate, whether they are plants, animals, fungi, places in the territory, or telluric forces. Each text reveals the hunger, wounds, and poisons of the person who studies and offers intimacy and work, as well as secrecy and witchcraft.“In some traditions of the Amazonian foothills and the highlands, dry corn is chewed and spit into a ceramic bowl when preparing chicha. Then water and panela are added; the mixture rests in a cool place where direct sunlight does not reach, waiting for fermentation to begin....] In certain places, on the occasion of mingas or some collective agreement, everyone prepares chicha. The people present chew and spit into the bowl. This is how the will to come together is declared and embodied. Each family or person takes home a part of the seed and asks for what the collective body and the agreement need: more material or sweetness, lightness or firmness. The chicha speaks and often says what people don't.

      • Trusted Partner
        July 2018

        Practical Feline Behaviour

        Understanding Cat Behaviour and Improving Welfare

        by Trudi Atkinson

        Practical Feline Behaviour contains all the relevant information that a veterinary nurse or technician needs to understand and handle the behaviour and welfare of house cats, and to offer safe and practical advice to clients. There have been ground-breaking advances in our understanding of feline behaviour in recent years and, to protect the welfare of cats, it is increasingly important that anyone involved with their care, especially those in a professional capacity, keep up to date with these developments. This approachable and down-to-earth text describes the internal and external influences on feline behaviour; on communication, learning, social behaviour, the relationship between behaviour and disease, and the cat - human relationship. It also provides practical advice on how the welfare of cats in our care may be protected and how behaviour problems should be addressed and how to avoid them. In this book Trudi Atkinson draws on her extensive experience as a veterinary nurse and a Certified Clinical Animal Behaviourist to provide a rapid reference and an intensely practical feline behaviour resource for owners, breeders, veterinary professionals, shelter and cattery workers and anyone involved in the care of our feline companions. - Practical, down to earth guide detailing all aspects of feline behaviour - Rapid reference for instant access to information - Written by a well-known animal behaviourist who has extensive experience in treating feline behaviour problems and in advising clients to protect the welfare of their cats - Includes a foreword by John Bradshaw, School of Veterinary Science at University of Bristol, UK

      • Trusted Partner
        Children's & YA

        Classic of Mountains and Rivers for Teenagers, Book I

        A Thousand Miles of Mountains and Rivers

        by Liu Xingshi

        The Classic of Mountains and Rivers, also known as Shan Hai Jing, has been regarded as a "strange book" since its appearance in China pre-Qin Dynasty. On the basis of its title, most people would assume that it is a survey record of ancient geography, but its descriptions of the "mountains and rivers" include encyclopedic entries—such as animals, plants, minerals, religion, history, medicine, customs, and ethnic groups. Also, it gives accounts of many folk legends of mythic geography, monsters, and witchcraft. No matter labeled as a book of geography, a book of history, or a book of strange stories, it is a Chinese ancient classic that deserves to be read over and over again.   But as a book compiled about 2,500 to 3,000 years ago, its context and words are difficult to understand for modern readers. The Classic of Mountains and Rivers for Teenagers series is just designed to make this classic more understandable and readable. It illustrates the most essential parts of the Classic of Mountains and Rivers with simple words, animated illustrations, and interdisciplinary approaches, and introduces young readers to the understandings of Chinese ancestors on land and nature. Not only is it a book series for teenagers, but also an encyclopedia of traditional Chinese geography and culture for adults.   The series contains three books, and A Thousand Miles of Mountains and Rivers is the first one. It briefly introduces the creation process and main contributors of the Classic of Mountains and Rivers, and tells stories about geography in ancient China including mountains, rivers, creatures, and minerals as well as the plain but vital spirit for scientific discovery of Chinese ancestors.

      • Trusted Partner
        July 2013

        Witchcraft continued

        Popular Magic in Modern Europe

        by Blecourt Willem De, Owen Davies

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        October 2017

        Witchcraft and Whigs

        by Andrew Sneddon

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