Witch: A Tale of Terror

By: Charles MacKay, Sam Harris - introduction

Narrated by: Sam Harris

Length: 3 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

For centuries in Europe, innocent men and women were murdered for the imaginary crime of witchcraft. This was a mass delusion and moral panic, driven by pious superstition and a deadly commitment to religious conformity. In Witch: A Tale of Terror, best-selling author Sam Harris introduces and reads from Charles Mackay's beloved book Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds.

Public Domain (P)2016 Sam Harris

Terrifyingly True

How horrible is it to think that single verse in the Bible brought about so much needless violence.

Witch, read by Sam Harris

What made the experience of listening to Witch: A Tale of Terror the most enjoyable?

Having it read by Sam Harris

Who was your favorite character and why?

The history.

What about Sam Harris’s performance did you like?

I could listen to him read the phone book...hope he does more.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Not really

Any additional comments?

Well worth a listen.

Excellent

Very interesting and well read. The narrator is well spoken and brings depth to the stories.

interesting history

I like that this was taken from a larger study on mass hysteria. It made it easier to digest and was very fascinating and sad that humanity can do such horrible things when they become unreasonable and hysterical.
Sometimes I enjoy Sam Harris's dry tone, but others may not. I think it was suited for this somber history.

The Real Witch

Would you consider the audio edition of Witch: A Tale of Terror to be better than the print version?

If you listen to Sam's podcast, or have listened to his other narrations, this audio edition is a must. Sam's voice, with the weight of all his previous words, paints a new layer on MacKay's work; reminding us that cultural superstitions still exist.

Any additional comments?

MacKay draws us through time to a place filled with mass hysteria. The horror is absurd in the amount of blood shed, the justifications used to shed it, and the length and depth it saturated Christian cultures.

Boring

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The reader was not particularly skillful and didn't have any sense of appropriate pronunciation--i.e., no recognition of Latin terms and a pronunciation that would not sound like flat-footed American English.

Has Witch: A Tale of Terror turned you off from other books in this genre?

I'm interested in the genre because of my interest in researching attitudes toward women in the Middle Ages.

Short, but full of bizarre little anecdotes

One often reads witch accounts to observe the absurd lengths mass hysteria and conventional wisdom will take people. This book cuts through a lot of the historical context and philosophy behind the witch pursuits and goes straight to the nitty gritty anecdotes with a little context to help you understand why certain townsfolk saw fit to string up and burn kids and old ladies. Quick, fun seasonal read around Halloween.

A must read that will help you value critical thinking

As a person who values structure and advocates for regulations this book was an excellent eye opener into the dysfunctional history of law and the tragic tendency of humans to be pulled into mass delusions. While this is a historical book it is a modern day warning to learn and adhere to critical thinking and logic.

An uncomfortable reminder of the power of belief

This well-produced audiobook is introduced and read by author & neuroscientist, Sam Harris, who is also host of the very popular 'Waking Up' podcast. Harris' experience as a podcast host, reader of the audiobook versions of several of his own books and leading light across a diverse field of important public conversations and debates shines through in his measured yet compelling reading.

The subject material concerns the 'Witch Mania' of Early Modern Europe, as described by Charles Mackay in his seminal 1841 book, 'Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds'. The quality of Mackay's writing is excellent and the detailed picture he paints of this extraordinarily tragic (and often gruesome) period (which for Mackay - and even, to some extent, for us now - was relatively recent) conveys in almost palpable terms the ability of individuals and societies to drive themselves into an ever-deeper ditch of terrible suffering when the wheels of their beliefs (which drive their behaviour and much of their experience of the world) run-off the rails of reason.

A valuable accounting of cultural illogic

Why were the Dark Ages dark? because of dark thinking. Here is an account of historical dark thinking that illuminates nothing and leads to terror and dread and that dominated in much of the world and still exists now. It's an example of what not to do.

I just saw the film "The VVitch" which dramatizes a narrative of this type of thinking. This book is an excellent companion to thwart film, but I would like to have seen some analysis of the problem instead of just exposition.