In Defense of Witches: The Legacy of the Witch Hunts and Why Women Are Still on Trial

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In Defense of Witches has an interesting thesis, noted in its subtitle “The Legacy of the Witch Hunts and Why Women Are Still on Trial”. The them is essentially that the witch hunts were all about society’s (men’s) efforts to control women, and misogyny that continues today exists as remnants of those efforts. The book examines this on several levels, in different areas—historically, socially, in the workplace, in specific fields—making many valid, well-documented points. 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. Chollet, a Swiss journalist and author living and working in France, first published this book as Sorcières in French in 2018. This is its first English translation and is important for U.S. audiences' understanding of the European historical references vs. contextualized vis a vis Salem or the like.

The section on motherhood was especially poignant for me and brought up a lot of intense emotions. I think so many women will find it so relatable, it gives words and life to emotions/feelings/thoughts so many of us have about our experiences that we feel obligated to politely ignore or suppress. I can’t even begin to count how many sections I highlighted, how many times my eyes filled with tears, or how many times I screamed UGHHHH YESS! in my head while reading this book. This should honestly be a must-read for every female identifying person, and probably everyone else besides as well. I will absolutely be recommending it to all the women in my life and making sure my own daughter reads it when she’s older. In Defense of Witches by Mona Chollet is a very well-researched yet very accessible look at how the witch hunts and the popular perceptions of witches has persisted to this day in different form but with the same intent. If you're expecting some sort of poetic journey through the world of witchcraft, you will likely find "In Defense of Witches" a tiresome and perhaps even meandering read. Chollet, unsurprisingly for those who know her work, leans far more heavily into feminism than the fantastic and is absolutely relentless about doing so.

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In Defense of Witches is a non-fiction book about the connections between witch hunts and modern-day feminism. It explores the three types of women who were accused of witchcraft most often: the childless, the elder, the independent. It's easy to notice that these archetypes are also the ones most judged in today's world: our society constantly evaluates women based on their age, their relationship status, and their fertility. Mona Cholet's original in French deep dives into the witch trials of Europe and also delves into the impact of it in our current day including the representation of witches in media.

This book is heavier on the feminism aspect than the witchcraft aspect so if you’re coming into this looking more for the history of witchcraft, there are other books that will do this better. While it does discuss it, it is predominantly in the introduction. However, as someone who is two of these three archetypes, and with each year growing closer to the third, this book was interesting, but at times not exactly eye opening. I’ve experienced some of the passive-aggressive commentary myself, thankfully not from my family. In Defense of Witches by Mona Chollet is an excellent nonfictional account of the history and evolution of the labeling of women through time and the subsequent treatment of the associated victims. Truly fascinating!

For me, the history of witchcraft could equally be called the history of independence…the most troubled territories are always those that want to be independent.’ And then the book ended—this further confused me, because my electronic version showed me at 66%, and I was expecting more of a conclusion, but the remainder was footnotes. Nonfiction books about witches typically fall into two categories - the historical horrors of trials and executions or 21st century witchcraft guides for the modern practitioner. In Defense of Witches is something altogether different in its universality and resonance and application. While this book covers significant historical ground, the modern day context is not meant to serve as a how-to guide, but rather as a deep and nuanced exploration of the myriad ways women continue to live in a society shaped by centuries-old societal and cultural norms, misogyny, and fear. "We are the granddaughters of the witches you weren't able to burn," and yet we continue to live out the sentence in many ways, both veiled and overt. Scholarly yet accessible, In Defense of Witches opens with the invitation to envision the first witch who captured our attention. For me, it was Glinda from The Wizard of Oz, and later Samantha of the television show Bewitched - and still later Gillian from Bell, Book, and Candle. Magical, dynamic, beautiful, smart, and usually with a cat around. Those characters would shape my perceptions about witches - and inform my own development in profound ways. The conclusion of this book is a powerful reminder of our own agency and potent to call to action to harness the "joy of audacity" in shaping a new legacy - one of humanity, equity, harmony with nature, and "the untrammeled enjoyment of our bodies and our minds." So mote it be.

The first two chapters focus heavily on when women choose not to have children and how society treats this choice. The third looks at the differences between how men and women age, or how society treats them differently as they age. These sections were clear, organized, focused on the topics. I was occasionally reminded that the book was written and published in Europe, as it would refer to resources in French, and mention how things were in America. In this context, independent women arouse skepticism in all fields. Sociologist Érika Flahault shows how this skepticism has been expressed in France since the appearance, in the early twentieth century, of single women living alone—where they would once have been “taken in by relations, by their extended family or local community in almost every case.”25 She disinters journalist Maurice de Waleffe’s observation from 1927: 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 Today, news media and people in trouble still use phrases like "witch hunt" to describe what they find an unfair assault on the character of a person. Writer Mona Chollet presents a highly researched look at witches as feminist icons. The three types of women that she looks closest at are those who were most often accused of witchcraft. These include the independent women, the childless woman, and elderly women. In Defense of Witches goes through the history of terrorism against women, censorship, and repression. This is definitely not an easy or happy read, so put that out of your mind at the start. Years of propaganda and terror sowed among men the seeds of a deep psychological alienation from women.’

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In a chilling analogy to today’s technologies of misinformation, Chollet notes it was that advent of the printing press in 1454 that led to the wide availability of the Bible, with its (likely mistranslated) injunction, “thou shalt not suffer a witch to live,” and worse, in 1487, to the oft-reprinted “witch-hunter’s bible,” the Malleus Maleficarum, or Hammer of Witches, launching a “media campaign” to identify and try witches. The author delves into the past used to vilify and murder independent women, widows and elderly women throughout our culture and still today. As the author moves through the times we see how in today's culture independent single women,, our elderly women and successful women who prefer to live on on their own are vilified by mysogany and hate of women that permeates our lives, the media and culture. I appreciate the detail and case studies the author has inclusive here to mysogany. Thank you, NetGalley, Mona Chollet, and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this book. It releases on March 8th, 2022. And as an embodiment of female power and resistance to male domination, what better figure than the witch? Since Chollet’s childhood, the word “has had a magnetic hold on me,” she writes. “Something about it fizzes with energy. The word speaks of a knowledge that lies close to the ground, a vital power, an accumulated force of experience that official sources disdain or repress.”