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Title details for In Defense of Witches by Mona Chollet - Wait list

In Defense of Witches

The Legacy of the Witch Hunts and Why Women Are Still on Trial

by Mona Chollet
Sophie R. Lewis
Audiobook
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Mona Chollet's In Defense of Witches is a "brilliant, well-documented" celebration (Le Monde) by an acclaimed French feminist of the witch as a symbol of female rebellion and independence in the face of misogyny and persecution.
Centuries after the infamous witch hunts that swept through Europe and America, witches continue to hold a unique fascination for many: as fairy tale villains, practitioners of pagan religion, as well as feminist icons. Witches are both the ultimate victim and the stubborn, elusive rebel. But who were the women who were accused and often killed for witchcraft? What types of women have centuries of terror censored, eliminated, and repressed?
Celebrated feminist writer Mona Chollet explores three types of women who were accused of witchcraft and persecuted: the independent woman, since widows and celibates were particularly targeted; the childless woman, since the time of the hunts marked the end of tolerance for those who claimed to control their fertility; and the elderly woman, who has always been an object of at best, pity, and at worst, horror. Examining modern society, Chollet concludes that these women continue to be harassed and oppressed. Rather than being a brief moment in history, the persecution of witches is an example of society's seemingly eternal misogyny, while women today are direct heirs to those who were hunted down and killed for their thoughts and actions.
With fiery prose and arguments that range from the scholarly to the cultural, In Defense of Witches seeks to unite the mythic image of the witch with modern women who seek to live their lives on their own terms.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    March 8, 2022

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781250839589
      • File size: 224586 KB
      • Duration: 07:47:53

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Library Journal

      June 1, 2022

      Chollet's thought-provoking text posits that although women are no longer burned at the stake as witches, much of the anti-woman sentiment that sparked past witch hunts is alive and well. According to Chollet, 50,000-100,000 women were tortured and murdered as "witches" throughout history. Most of them were single, widowed, childless, beyond childbearing years, or in control of their own fertility during a time when society tied a woman's worth to her ability to bear children or care for a husband. With many real-life examples or media portrayals of historic and contemporary oppression and misogyny, this could be a demoralizing and overwhelming listening experience. The encouraging tone throughout, however, urges listeners to create a world where bodies and minds are never associated with this type of historical past again. Alix Dunmore's lovely accent and warm delivery add to the hopeful tone of the production, and her precise, careful pacing helps listeners absorb the many references. VERDICT Filled with hundreds of endnotes, this original and entertaining work would make a great book club choice.--Beth Farrell

      Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      February 28, 2022
      In this spirited yet uneven polemic, journalist Chollet traces misogynistic attitudes in Western society back to witch hunts that occurred in Europe and the U.S. from the 1300s to the 1700s. These periodic public tortures and executions of women “induced all women to be discreet, docile, and submissive,” according to Chollet, and drove them into an acceptance of the “gendered division of labor required by capitalism.” She forcefully argues that the marginalization of single women, women without children, older women, and female healers is a direct legacy of the witch hunt, though her calls for rethinking social behaviors and expectations often seem out-of-date. For example, her critique of the “standard birth position” of “lying on your back” doesn’t acknowledge that women in the U.S. have been encouraged to sit or move during labor since the 1980s. Elsewhere, Chollet presumes that “a large number of parents have given in to societal pressure rather than to an impulse of their own” without providing firm evidence for such a conclusion. Though her iconoclastic wit shines, Chollet’s provocations ultimately come across as more defensive than revolutionary. This call for change feels like old news.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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