The Ruin of All Witches: Life and Death in the New World by Malcolm GaskillMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
The Ruin of All Witches is a fascinating book. It's scary, evocative, and slowly builds up the story by laying out all the pieces and working through them.
Gaskill is a skilled history-writer, he is methodical and descriptive. He brings New England to life, going through the details that make a place feel so real. He touches on the food and the rituals that make the life on the frontier feel so much more concrete. He doesn't impose a narrative on the people in the book. They exist, they live, they breathe, and they do what they must. In these, Gaskill's book is an incisive look at how Springfield descended into paranoia about witchcraft.
In parts, perhaps, Gaskill's writing was a little to dry for my taste. In parts, it felt like I was missing context, not seeing something the writer thought should be obvious. In parts, the story was a little disjointed. These are minor complaints, but they added up with some bits being a little annoying to work through.
For the most part, though, The Ruin of All Witches is a gripping and fascinating look at a tragic past.
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