Product Description

This witch's brew of a book is back in all its tantalizing glory to enchant a new generation of readers. Best-selling author Erica Jong here turns her attention to the fantastical and factual world of witchcraft. In beguiling poetry and prose, she looks at the figure of the witch both as historical reality and as archetype - as evil crone and full-breasted seductress, as a lingering vestige of a primeval religion and a projection of fear of the unknown. Joseph A. Smith's powerful, haunting illustrations enliven each page, as Jong investigates the witch as a survivor of the age of sorcery, as a scapegoat for male-dominated church-state politics, as a remarkable natural healer, and as a hexer without peer. Real recipes for love potions and flying lotions, along with formulas for spells and incantations, make this book a rich journey of mystery and delight. Available in paperback for the first time, Witches has been a favorite since it was published more than 20 years ago - a testament to the enduring fascination with the myths and truths about these intriguing figures.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #245187 in Books
• Published on: 2004-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

About the Author
Erica Jong is the author of the novels Fear of Flying, Shylock's Daughter, Inventing Memory, and Sappho's Leap. She has also written six volumes of poetry and a number of nonfiction works, including the memoir Fear of Fifty. Joseph A. Smith, a painter and sculptor, is a professor of fine arts at Pratt Institute in New York City.

Customer Reviews

All women should buy this book.
I first saw this book in a library years ago. It was dusty and shabby, but when I opened its pages, it was like I had stepped into another world. The cover picture may be a little misleading if you are expecting a light happy celebration of witches, as it is very much about the persecution of women as witches, with sometimes disturbing paintings and words.
It is quite dark at times, telling you of the tortures and what witches were believed to do in the Burning Times.
However, this is no bad thing, as nothing is all light and sweetness. This book puts the sting into the history of witchcraft, and I for one will be handing my own copy down to my daughter when she is old enough to embrace the Craft.

A book with a different edge...
It is very difficult to know how to write this review in order to really give the book justice but it is a book with a different angle.
In a way it is sort of dark but not in a bad way, full of raw female sexuality, beautiful illustrations and interesting poetry. It really made me think about the way that patriarchal Christianity has suppressed female sexuality and worship of the female.
What I loved most were the poems about the witching herbs such as Deadly Nightshade and Thorn Apple. They really brought alive the power and antiquity of these plants which have been forgotten for so long. Powerful, fascinating, ancient, sexual and strangely energising - one to keep for generations to come.

A Valuable Resource
I bought this book nearly ten years ago to help me with my University dissertation and I'm glad I did, as I passed!

The book is well worth a read if you want to know about witches in history instaed of reading a load of old fairy tales.