Without judgment, David Baker takes us on this long, strange trip, uncovering instinctual behaviors, multifaceted passions, relationship patterns, curious desires, and so much more. You may not learn new bedroom tricks but you may be able to explain your peccadillo by saying the bonobos did it too.
rating: ★★★★★
The Shortest History of Sex: Two Billion Years of Procreation and Recreation
by David Baker
The Experiment
While the Bible does say “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live” (KJV, Exodus 22:18), it doesn't offer much detail. Demonologies, however, mostly focused on women—the weaker sex—succumbing to the forked-tongue lies of Satan’s minions. Misogyny was rampant, especially in male-dominated arenas like religion and government. Over the last 700 years, the most common trait of a witch was being female (though not all the accused were).
As Gibson discusses, German churchman and demonologist Heinrich Kramer (c. 1430-1505) failed in his first attempt to destroy the “witches” of Innsbruck, Austria. But afterward, he wrote the exceptionally popular Malleus Maleficarum in 1487, also known as The Hammer of Witches. By 1600, about 45 demonology titles were published in Western Europe, including one by King James VI of Scotland (later James I of England). These books were widely circulated among churchmen, rulers, the upper classes, and scholars—including Judge William Stoughton and ministers Cotton Mather and Samuel Parris, all of whom influenced the Salem witch trials in 1692.
For the Salem story, Gibson focuses on “Tatabe,” Parris’ Indian servant who had a prominent but short-lived role early in the Salem witch trials. Under duress, Tituba (falsely) confessed to practicing witchcraft but was not executed, while the ones who claimed their innocence at trial were. Instead of the power of Tituba’s testimony and its many parallels to British witchcraft beliefs, Gibson concentrates on the hypothetical Arawak birth story from Elaine Breslaw’s Tituba, Reluctant Witch of Salem. Highlighting those parallels would have helped to debunk the voodoo myths surrounding Tituba, often told by misguided writers and tour guides who haven’t delved into the original records.
Thirteen Trials includes cases from Europe, Africa, and the Americas, covering a wide variety of situations, cultures, and time periods. It’s a fascinating read, with each history connected to the underlying premise of misogyny and violence against women.
Today, in Salem and elsewhere, “people who have redefined witchcraft and embraced the identity of ‘witch’” embody the medieval demonologists’ worst nightmares (ch. 13).
rating: ★★★★
Witchcraft: A History in Thirteen Trials
by Marion Gibson
Scribner Book Company
There’s beauty in having a scientist write such a book. Lance Grande remains neutral, or agnostic if you will, to the different religions. His purpose is to analyze how organized religions came into being, how they change and evolve over time, and how they create new groups and subgroups—or become extinct.
Organized religions developed from early supernaturalism into Asian cyclicism, Old World polytheism, linear monotheism, traditional and reformation Christianity, gnosticism and Biblical demiurgism, and Islam. Grande focuses on each group’s origin and development, doctrines, rituals/practices, and supernatural beings/deities from prehistoric times to today.
From that evolutionary perspective, Grande discovers the history of related traditions (as in the title). He shows how, for example, the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) are historically and ideologically intertwined, but also how they diversified—by using historical and scriptural records. The amazingly detailed charts help us visualize the relationships between religions and the subgroups that grew out of them, while the sidebars, images, and glossary provide additional context.
It’s an imperfect science due to changing archaeological interpretations and new discoveries, variables in oral traditions and written transcriptions, and the physical destruction or recovery of scriptures. That's why Grande created the framework and then invited others to fill in the missing pieces and build upon his work.
The Evolution of Religions is a big book, but it’s written methodically so you’ll understand the broad concepts behind many organized religions around the world.
rating: ★★★★★
The Evolution of Religions: A History of Related Traditions
by Lance Grande
Columbia University Press
Although Hannah’s story is fiction, her captain is based on the real, cold-blooded pirate Edward Low. As she learns the ropes and what governs the crew, Hannah’s story is paralleled by a professor, Marian Beresford, who strives to get out of her famous father’s shadow and find Hannah’s buried treasure in 1930.
A True Account: Hannah Masury’s Sojourn Amongst the Pyrates, Written by Herself is a fascinating read. It draws you into these two women’s lives but doesn’t complete the whole picture. You have to paint that in yourself, given the clues provided.
rating: ★★★★
A True Account: Hannah Masury’s Sojourn Amongst the Pyrates, Written by Herself
by Katherine Howe
Henry Holt & Company
Howe also edited The Penguin Book of Pirates.
Douglas Groothuis, a professor of philosophy at Denver
Seminary since 1993, encapsulates seven world religions into seven short
phrases, then explains what they mean in his book, World Religions in Seven Sentences. These lines are not always self-explanatory (compared to,
say, Descartes’ famous “I think, therefore I am”). For example, the phrases
range from obscure (Hinduism’s “You are that”) to easily memorized (Islam’s
“There is one God, and Muhammad is his prophet”).
Groothuis excels at providing lists: the Four Covenants
of the Jews; Buddhism’s Four Noble Truths; the Six Tenets of Islam. He also explains
how both Hindus and Buddhists believe in karma, though Siddhartha Gautama the
Buddha rejected major parts of Hinduism in order to seek enlightenment.
As he says in the introduction, Groothuis provides his
“evaluations of each faith” through his conviction that “truth is [only] found
in the gospel of Jesus Christ.” That’s seemingly why the book begins with
Atheism (not that “God is dead” but “there is no God and has never been”). As
more Americans become unaffiliated to a particular religion, the author warns that
“a world without God is ripe … [for] the most ruthless political oppression.”
He saves Islam for last. As the second-most popular religion
in the world, Islam has similarities to the two other Abrahamic religions,
Judaism and Christianity. It recognizes the prophets of the Hebrew Bible and its
Qur’an talks of Jesus as a prophet of Allah. However, Muslim teachings deny Jesus’
crucifixion, resurrection, and place in the Trinity (the Godhead). Groothuis claims
Jesus and Mohammad are two of the most influential people in the world.
However, he shows Jesus as a humble healer, while Mohammad is a destroyer and
leader; “Allah is merciful” but the Christian “God is love.”
World Religions in Seven Sentences provides a brief
overview of different religions, but its Christian viewpoint introduces too
much bias for non-Christian readers.
rating: ★★★
World Religions in Seven Sentences: A Small Introduction to a Vast Topic
by Douglas Groothuis
IVP Academic
While the Tudor era ended before the Winthrop fleet arrived on the shores of Massachusetts Bay Colony, some of the crueler penalties were not abolished until the 19th century. Fortunately, the Puritan colonists created the first 100 rules of 1641's Body of Liberties based on the Bible—and used more humane treatment compared to what they left behind in England.
In 1692 Salem, Massachusetts, however, when Giles Corey refused to enter a plea in court, he was pressed to death for it. This gruesome punishment, also known as Peine forte et dure, was only used once stateside. But it was not abolished in England until 1772. In fact, in English courts the accused was not given the option of pleading “not guilty” until 1827.
Other examples include a thief who steals bread could get a hand cut off, while a vagrant could get branded with the letter V. Some punishments were designed for maximum humiliation, with the crowds throwing rotten foodstuff at convicts in the cart or at the pillory. That was tame compared to being drawn and quartered, then hanged—again, with crowd participation.
If you’re looking for more details on Crime and Punishment in Tudor England, pick up the new book by April Taylor. The author provides background information on lawmaking, prisons, and court systems—and 23 pages of punishments, from beheading to whipping. In the book's second half, crimes from sumptuary laws to treason are covered in alphabetical order, each followed by case studies. You’ll learn what evidence could be used against the accused, what tortures could be applied to gain a confession, and even which strategies were used for the criminal’s demise.
Taylor turns crime and punishment in the Tudor period into a fascinating read, while the alpha-order format makes it easy to browse or research specific topics.
rating: ★★★★
Crime and Punishment in Tudor England: From Alchemists to Zealots
by April Taylor
Pen & Sword History
