Chollet, Mona
 
ISBN 9781250894878, 1250894875
Trade Paperback | 320 pages
 
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?

Celebrated feminist writer Mona Chollet explores the types of women who were accused of witchcraft and persecuted: the independent woman, the childless woman, and the elderly woman, who for centuries have been censored, repressed, and even killed. Chollet concludes that rather than being a brief moment in history, these women continue to be harassed and oppressed. Women today are direct heirs to those who were hunted down and killed for their thoughts and actions, facing the same sort of judgements and stereotypes that women have battled for centuries. 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.