Riding the Nightmare: Women and Witchcraft from the Old World to Colonial Salem

This book focuses on the period from the late Middle Ages until the time of the Salem trials. The author has researched legends, myth, folklore, history, and politics. She includes an extensive bibliography. Her premise is that men used the threat of witchcraft as a way of keeping women from power and from reaping the rewards of their own labors. She examines the historical association of women and witchcraft to show the fear-based social attitudes that through the centuries have condemned women to ignorance (through limiting education) and dependency.