"In this revised edition, first published under the title of Witch, Wicce, Mother Goose, Robert Thurston explores the events of the witch hunts and the social and psychological factors which caused them. Increasingly negative images of women, revised judicial procedures and religious conflicts had their part to play in these strange times, as did ideas from sources as diverse as the Bible and folk beliefs. The Witch Hunts takes a long historical view of the witch persecutions, and puts into perspective the effects of fear and violence in even the most reasonable of societies."--Jacket.