The Devil in the Shape of a Woman

 Book 27 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from February 16 - March 7

The Devil in the Shape of a Woman: Witchcraft in Colonial New England

by Carol F. Karlsen

published 1998

Summary (via the book jacket)

Confessing to "familiarity with the devils," Mary Johnson, a servant, was executed by Connecticut officials in 1648. A wealthy Boston widow, Ann Hibbens was hanged in 1656 for casting spells on her neighbors. The case of Ann Cole, who was "taken with very strange Fits," fueled an outbreak of witchcraft accusations in Hartford a generation before the notorious events at Salem.

More than three hundred years later, the question "Why?" still haunts us. Why were these and other women likely witches - vulnerable to accusations of witchcraft and possession? In this work Carol F. Karlsen reveals the social construction of witchcraft in seventeenth-century New England and illuminates the larger contours of gender relations in society.

My Opinion

2 stars

When the text of the book is only 265 pages and the appendix/notes/index adds another 115 pages to the book, you know it's going to be a dense read.  The readability was tough but the research appeared to be solid.

As always when reading about witchcraft, the contradictions of thinking women are inferior while also thinking women are powerful enough to curse you is frustrating.  Sometimes they're accused because a person they helped died but sometimes they're accused because a person they helped lived.  Also, people need to mind their own damn business.