The Enemy Within: 2,000 Years of Witch-Hunting in the Western World

xiv, 318 pp. With the vision of a historian and the voice of a novelist, prize-winning author John Demos explores the social, cultural, and psychological roots of the scourge that is witch-hunting, both in the remote past and today. The Enemy Within chronicles the most prominent witch-hunts of the Western world--women and men who were targeted by suspicious neighbors and accused of committing horrific crimes by supernatural means--and shows how the fear of witchcraft has fueled recurrent cycles of accusation, persecution, and purging. A unique and fascinating book, it illumines the dark side of communities driven to rid themselves of perceived evil, no matter what the human cost.