Toil and Trouble: A Women’s History of the Occult

by Lisa Kröger, Melanie R. Anderson

This celebration of forgotten magical women, from Salem to WitchTok, is a fascinating and empowering read for anyone interested in occultism or feminist history.

Meet the mystical women and nonbinary people from US history who found strength through the supernatural—and those who are still forging the way today. From the celebrity spirit mediums of the nineteenth century to contemporary activist witches hexing the patriarchy, women have long used magic and mysticism to seize the power they’re so often denied.

Organized around different approaches women have taken to the occult over the decades—using the supernatural for political gain, seeking fame and fortune as spiritual practitioners, embracing their witchy identities, and more—this book shines a light on underappreciated magical pioneers, including:

• Dion Fortune, who tried to marshal a magical army against Hitler
• Bri Luna, the Hoodwitch, social media star and serious magical practitioner
• Joan Quigley, personal psychic to Nancy Reagan
• Marie Laveau, voodoo queen of New Orleans
• Elvira, queer goth sex symbol who defied the Satanic Panic
• And many more!

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Witches, Feminism, Audiobook, Occult, Adult

336 pages, Hardcover

First published October 25, 2022

Reviews

[Rachel (TheShadesofOrange) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.0 stars
This was a fantastic non fiction exploration of witches. The book itself is a beautiful object, but this is more than a pretty coffee table book. There is a lot of substance in the pages. The book explores the history of witches but also explores the modern manifestations today. I also really appreciated the inclusive nature of this book. I would recommend this to anyone looking for an entertaining but informative exploration of historical and modern witches.

Disclaimer I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

[Dannii Elle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exactly as the subtitle suggests, this book is an anthology of influential female and non-binary figures who shaped the occult world. The historical period explored here is vast, extending from the Salem witch trials to the modern-day WitchTok audience. A handful of pages are dedicated towards each figure and facts are provided about their person, the period they resided in, the politics surrounding their actions, what they enacted, and the resulting outcome. I found this a fascinating and beautiful book, perfect for any modern witch or those with an interest in the history of occult practises.

I especially appreciated the focus on why so many ostracised individuals felt the call for witchcraft in the first place. They often resided in societies that did not value them and sought an alternative source of power. On other times their status as 'other' made the collective easily make the leap to labelling them 'witch' for their own gain in disregarding or further demoting them in the societal hierarchies.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to the authors, Lisa Kröger and Melanie R. Anderson, and the publisher, Quirk Books, for this opportunity.

[laurel [the suspected bibliophile]]

DNF at 50 pages

The book itself is gorgeous. The cover is breathtaking and the formatting is beautiful. And I was sucked in by the introduction and all of the initial witchiness.

Unfortunately, this quickly eroded by the second segment, which was about the Fox Sisters.

Mentioned among these two young spiritualists was the fact that many of these popular mediums who appeared in the 19th century were very young. Girls like Flora Temple (14) and Cora Hatch (a mere 11), "took the Spiritualist stage."

"Youth and beauty signaled innocence and virtue, which allowed these mediums to position themselves as conduits to the 'other side' without any troubling whiff of witchcraft."

Sounds like some riveting messages of #grrrlpower and #girlbossing at a young age, right? That is what this book makes it sounds like, and positions these children as harnessing power for themselves in a world dominated by the patriarchy.

Except...it's not really the case. My spidey senses were tingling over the logistics of little Cora Hatch becoming such a phenomenon on her own, and a simple Wikipedia search (good ol' wiki) revealed that while she did exhibit the abilities to talk to the dead/spirits, her parents were the ones who quickly seized upon and monetized this little quirk of hers—they were the ones directing the show.

When her dad died a couple years later, Cora went to Buffalo, New York at age 15 and became well known amongst the Spiritualist sect there (there is no mention of Mama, but I have a strong feeling Mama was there). Cora married her first husband Benjamin Hatch, a professional mesmerist who was 46 to her 16—Wiki says he managed her in order to maximize revenue.

Anywho, let's just say that I was a bit disappointed that the book did not mention some of the nuances here. Cora Hatch, in particular, is less an instance of a woman embracing the occult in order to gain power than a child who was manipulated by her parents and later very-adult-husband.

The book also felt sketchy when talking about Leonora Carrington, a 19 year old girl who met and ran away with 47 year old painter Max Ernst (who was married)—the book places these two as equals, throwing parties in Paris. However, two years later the Nazis invaded France and Ernst dropped Carrington like a hot pocket—"with the help of Peggy Guggenheim, his wealthy patron." His wealthy patron, who he married the next year. So there is a lot of context missing right there (along with whatever beef she had with Frida Kahlo) and I know that this is a pop culture book but holy moly I just felt that so much of the nuance here was flattened horribly.

I skimmed the rest of the book, picking up here and there, and I am not one to read critically but I felt like a lot was misrepresented. I know that the entries are short and there's going to be something left out based on the sheer scope of the story, but I don't know—I guess I wanted something less gimmicky and more serious/accurate while still retaining a pop culture vibe.

[Nursebookie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you @quirkbooks for the gifted book - A celebration of magical women and nonbinary people in American history, from Salem to WitchTok.

TITLE: Toil and Trouble: A Women's History of the Occult
AUTHOR: Lisa Kröger & Melanie R Anderson
PUB DATE: 10.25.2022

The book features mystical women and nonbinary people from US history who found strength through the supernatural:

✦ Dion Fortune, who tried to marshal a magical army against Adolf Hitler
✦ Bri Luna, the Hoodwitch, social media star and serious magical practitioner
✦ Joan Quigley, personal psychic to Nancy Reagan
✦ Marie Laveau, voodoo queen of New Orleans
✦ Elvira, queer goth sex symbol who defied the Satanic Panic
✦ And many more!

THOUGHTS:

The authors have done an exceptional job on shining a light on these women from the early nineteenth century through today - from those who were persecuted, and those that have gained fame and power, gaining celebrity status. These collection of biographies were fascinating to read most especially the chapter on “100% That Witch,” really was fun to read perfect for the season.

Really fun and enjoyable read, and makes the perfect gift for the feminists, and those that take a fascination for the occult, in your life.

[Heather K Veitch · Rating 1 out of 5]

On an initial glance, Toil and Trouble: A Women’s Guide to the Occult looks to be a short overview of various women who have been important to Occultism and related areas (e.g. Witchcraft, Wicca, tarot) through the ages. On a closer read, however, I was most disappointed by this title.

As I read this book, I noticed — time and again — evidence of bad research (where are the citations, sources?) despite this being written by academics. There were facts that were misleading — Salem being the first instance of the Occult in the USA? Really? — and others that were just plain wrong. For instance, Pamela Colman Smith died in poverty in Cornwall (not London, as is claimed) and her grave is most likely to be in Bude. She also converted to Roman Catholicism, not Catholicism. These are just a few examples of the many errors in this book, which is mainly US-focused and not a complete guide by any means.

As an experienced Witch, tarot reader, and Occultist, I found this book to be a poor addition to the field, and would not recommend it to anyone. Avoid.

I received an e-ARC from the publisher, Quirk Books, through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful! There are so many amazing women and non-binary individuals that were kept out of the history books, and I am pleased to have learned about some of them here. The book contains short biographical sketches of women who played integral roles in the occult throughout hundreds of years. It's a good starting point for further reading and research on these fascinating people. I also learned more about the white, Christian, patriarchal systems that kept - and still work to keep - women in strict societal roles. A very inclusive book that I'm glad I ran across.

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was great! I learned so much that I didn’t know. This is such an engaging and engrossing book.

[Magdalena Morris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh, this was so disappointing. I loved Monster, She Wrote by these authors, but their second book doesn't compare. It looks stunning, but that's it. Toil and Trouble was boring, generic, and *so* repetitive. It felt as though the authors wanted to cover so many different things, it all got muddled up and lost its meaning. I also had an impression that they threw in some random things, or repeated what they literally just discussed a few pages earlier, just to hit the word count to make it a book length. It's really disappointing because I loved their first book and I've enjoyed their podcasts, but this book almost felt like a chore to read. Alas!

[Jos · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF 50%

The cover was quite pretty but the contents did nothing to encourage me to continue finish the book or explore more women's history within the occult.

My biggest issue is that, it felt like reading a bunch of shorter articles online. Something that might be published weekly or daily that expands your trivia repertoire. While the historical figured were tied together based on their overall contribution to the occult: shaping, monetizing, politicizing, challenging, and embracing; it didn't really feel like it mattered where I started reading.

The other issue I had was that the stories sometimes had limited history on the individual and often had focused on what was available, the histories of the structures and the men involved. Which is a bit of a bummer.

I did enjoy the trans-positive perspective of the authors and their willingness to include non-binary and female identifying AMAB folks. And the authors did seem to do quite a bit of research to collect a large number of names. If you are big into the occult and women's history this might be more for you. The hardcover copy is quite impressive with the spot foiling.

[Lauren pavey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Toil & trouble : A women’s history of the occult by Lisa Kroger

DNF

I had so much hope for this one! I really thought that given how much interest I have always had with this subject that this book would be captivating but sadly the opposite happened.
As much as I wanted to enjoy this book I found it really dull. The information was just really flat and I felt more like I was being lectured a series of dates and facts rather than spellbound as I hoped. I only managed to get 40% of the way through before admitting defeat however I have seen that others absolutely love this book so it may just be a bit or a marmite book and you either love it or it doesn’t work for you.
Such a shame but no book can please everyone and there’s every chance it improved greatly in the second half.
Have you read it and if so what did you think?

[Madeline Nixon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, I’m a little disappointed with this one. I adored their first book Monster, She Wrote, so had high hopes here. And while the book is still gorgeous and mostly engaging, something’s off. I love the way they write, but I found myself bored at times. I also recognize that this was a history of witchcraft/occult in the US, but they kind of ignored that the US wasn’t the first in a number of things. For example, Most Haunted, the British ghost hunting show, was around for two years before Ghost Hunters and already big. It was just little things like that that rubbed me the wrong way. I liked a lot of this. I also didn’t like a lot. Falls pretty averagely for me.

Thanks to Netgalley for an arc of this book. All opinions are my own.

[Julia Townsend · Rating 2 out of 5]

In Toil and Trouble, Kroger and Anderson share stories of women from different time periods and describe the ways in which they used the occult to advance financially and politically. I think it is well organized. I like the variety and contrast between the featured witches. I'm not a fan of some of the author's commentary, and I think the book could have done without it. It seems like topics of cultural appropriation and gender nonconformity were brought up cheaply, to avoid persecution from the Political Correctness Police. It also seems like assumptions were made about why particular women did certain things, and what they were thinking. I would have liked to see more evidence and less speculation in those cases.

[Rebecca White · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had good expectations for this book. I thought it would be an interesting and unique take on women's history. Unfortunately I DNFed it. The writing was alright but it was leaning towards dull and did not draw me in as much as I would have liked. While each chapter was about a different individual or group, there was not much to connect them and felt more like reading off a timeline and checking off boxes than showing how they were all connected. It was not as enjoyable as I had hoped.

[Luciana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Estiquei o olho para Toil and Trouble tão logo me dei conta de que se tratava de uma obra das mesmas autoras de Monster, She Wrote. Aqui, contudo, em vez de uma coletânea de breves biografias de escritoras pioneiras no horror/terror, Lisa Kröger e Melanie Anderson nos apresentam um apanhado histórico feminista do que chamamos, de forma genérica, de Oculto.

Pelo tema, era para eu ter resenhado esse volume durante o All Hallow’s Read, mas questões de tempo e outros compromissos só me permitiram terminá-lo agora. Enfim, está valendo…

De forma geral, Toil and Trouble é uma leitura interessante, rápida e cativante, mas que se ressente de um trabalho melhor de editoração. Falta certa linearidade da apresentação das figuras históricas escolhidas, indo e voltando no tempo, em diferentes temas e até julgamentos.

Num momento estamos lendo sobre a histeria em Salem, no fôlego seguinte estamos pulando de Samantha, de A Feiticeira para Elvira, A Rainha das Trevas e questões de representatividade e visibilidade trans. Convivem no mesmo espaço médiuns (sobre as quais várias vezes termina-se o perfil lançando a questão da fraude); detetives sobrenaturais (incluindo especialistas em desmascarar as já citadas médiuns); fundadores da Wicca; bruxas modernas que tomaram o título como forma de ativismo e performance social, pânico satanista/comunista com maior acesso feminino ao trabalho fora de casa, e por aí afora.

Em parte, o livro me lembrou muito Mulheres Confiantes, da Tori Telfer, um livro sobre golpistas que usam principalmente da credulidade do público para fazer suas trapaças (aliás, algumas personagens de Toil and Trouble me eram familiares por causa dessa outra leitura). De outro turno, ele também segue a linha de História da Bruxaria, de Jeffrey Burton Russell e Brooks Alexander, investigando a caça às bruxas, suas consequências e a mentalidade que permitiu tais perseguições. São duas ótimas referências comparativas, exceto pelo detalhe de que há algo antagônico entre elas.

O ponto principal do livro é que as mulheres se voltaram para o ocultismo como uma forma de se fazerem ouvir numa sociedade que as relegava continuamente a papéis subalternos e silenciosos. Elas exploram a ideia de que, em tempos antigos, qualquer tipo de independência feminina poderia fazer valer uma acusação de bruxaria; mas, a partir do século XIX, com a ascensão de espiritualismo como religião, mulheres médiuns podiam se sustentar financeiramente com amostras de seus poderes e também apresentar opiniões na esfera pública com a perfeita desculpa de estarem incorporando espíritos - algumas médiuns negras puderam falar contra a escravidão dessa maneira.

Até aí, maravilha. Só que uma parte dessas médiuns e ocultistas não estavam apenas tentando conquistar espaços que lhe eram negados, ícones de um proto-feminismo que toma para si o termo “bruxa” e o ressignifica - elas estavam espoliando pessoas vulneráveis, que, no mais das vezes, tinham perdido entes queridos e estavam desesperadas para encontrar algum tipo de consolo. E as próprias autoras reconhecem quando essas médiuns estavam se utilizando de truques para enganar os mais (ou mesmo os menos) crédulos.

Entre um capítulo e outro você é apresentado a essas figuras primeiro como ícones pioneiras, e depois, como golpistas, desmascaradas por outra série de mulheres também admiráveis, que se especializaram em encontrar essas "predadoras". Há primeiro uma tentativa de isenção, depois o julgamento do que é socialmente aceitável, mas aí se deixa implícita uma admiração pelo que elas foram capazes de fazer porque, afinal de contas, elas eram "contra o patriarcado". E aí vem o que me incomoda: se é para celebrar, então o faça abertamente e sem pudores, mas não venha com firulas.

Talvez o maior problema seja o formato em que todas essas mulheres, suas ideias e contextos são apresentados, com perfis separados. As mesmas informações, num texto ensaístico, em que as autoras pudessem argumentar à vontade, para além dos dados biográficos, funcionaria muito melhor. Não estou falando em reescrever a História, em deixar de fora aquilo que é menos abonador às biografadas, mas explorar melhor a conjuntura dos fatos. Fora que um ensaio te permite ser bem mais pessoal e assumir suas opiniões.

Toil and Trouble quer ser abrangente, e acaba despejando tudo no mesmo caldeirão, mesmo quando os ingredientes não combinam bem. Não é um livro ruim, pelo contrário, há muita coisa fascinante nele; mas, continuando minha metáfora gastronômica, há tempero demais na mistura e às vezes você deixa de reconhecer os sabores de base porque só sente a pimenta. De novo, uma série de ensaios, cada um num único tema, com um encadeamento mais fechado, teria funcionado melhor.

[Amber Hathaway · Rating 5 out of 5]

Toil & Trouble: A Women's History of the Occult by Lisa Kroger and Melanie R. Anderson provides a window into the lives of many of the women and nonbinary folks who helped shape occult practices in America. The book is divided into five core sections, and each section is subdivided into biographical sketches. These short biographies cover a wide array of occult practitioners and skeptics, from spirit mediums to innovators of Ouija and Tarot to founding figures in modern witchcraft. The book is also chock full of fascinating facts. (I think my favorite was that while the Satanic Panic raged, the Reagans scheduled their lives around an astrologer's predictions.)

While the profiles are fairly sympathetic, the authors did not shy away from the problematic elements of some occult practices in America, including cultural appropriation and transphobia. For example, while Z Budapest doesn't have her own section, it would be difficult to talk about witchcraft in America without mentioning her. The authors openly acknowledged her transphobia and why it's harmful, which is important.

I also appreciated that a section of the book was devoted to "Challengers of the Occult." Unfortunately, too many people use the occult to profit off of others, and it's important to recognize this. Plus, there are some neat historical figures in the section, like Eleanor Sidgwick. I think including this section gave the book a layer of depth and nuance that it wouldn't have had otherwise.

There was one area where I found the book lacking, and that was the way in which it tried to mold the events of the Salem Witch Trials to fit its empowerment narrative. Tituba was featured in a section about women owning their witchiness, but she only confessed because she had no other choice, which the book acknowledges. The accusers were more empowered by the occult in Salem than the accused, and they benefited by wielding witchcraft accusations against other women. I think it makes sense to talk about Salem in a book like this, but not with that framing.

The book also makes the erroneous claim that the history of women and the occult in America began in 1692 with Salem. Even if we're just looking at white settlers and not considering the indigenous peoples who had their own relationships with the spirit world, that's not accurate. The Puritans brought their notions of the invisible world to colonial America, and the first recorded execution for witchcraft took place in 1647, almost half a century before Salem. Women colonists were associated with the occult from the get-go, but that wasn't a good thing.

Salem is a small part of the book, though, so if this framing bothers you, I'd recommend skipping the Salem sections. The book as a whole is a good and a worthwhile read. There's a lot of great information for anyone interested in the history of the occult in America.

[Sesana · Rating 1 out of 5]

Intensely disappointing. Reading this, it quickly became very clear that the authors want desperately to believe in the occult, or at least cater to readers who do, and are perfectly willing to write entirely misleading narratives in that pursuit. This book makes no distinction between known frauds and principled women and nonbinary people practicing religions that fall under the occult banner. If I were a Laurie Cabot, I'd be insulted to be portrayed as functionally morally equal to Miss Cleo. In order to get there, the authors had to leave out a ton of information, take the words of known frauds at face value, and occasionally engage in outright misinformation. A partial list:

Several times, members of the American and British Societies for Psychical Research are called hardcore skeptics. Utter nonsense, as anyone at all familiar with the SPR or ASPR know. Both organizations are exclusively for true believers.
Why does Houdini want to debunk mediums? Probably sexism! Repeated several times, in several chapters, before eventually admitting that actually, he realized that mediums were scamming people deep in grief. Weird that the authors claim that it was his father Houdini tried to contact through mediums before becoming skeptical. It was actually his mother.
An odd insistence that Margery Crandon had no financial motivation in faking her mediumistic powers. Well, except for the huge cash prize she was trying to win.
Calling Leonora Piper a medium to "stumped skeptics", then spending a later chapter profiling the woman who wasn't stumped by her. Oops.
Forgetting to mention that Miss Cleo's Jamaican accent is fake.
There's a general reluctance to admit that fraudulent mediums and psychics are exploiting personal tragedies for money and fame. The only psychic that really gets taken to task in this entire book is Sylvia Browne, perhaps because there are a few high-profile instances of her fakery causing real harm.
You'd never know from reading this book that Amityville was a total hoax. There's no way the authors didn't know this, so they're actively omitting this information to make Loraine Warren look less bad.
Putting women who debunked mediums like Rose Mackenberg and Susan Gerbic, in the same chapter as the woman who triggered the Satanic Panic because they're all occult detractors feels borderline defamatory to me.

I could definitely go on. Overall, this is an extremely poor show of scholarship from actual academics. I can't tell if that's because they genuinely are this bad at research or if they're cynically leaving out anything that makes for a less marketable storyline. It's readable, sure, but it's also garbage history.

[Saltygalreads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Billed as a US history of prominent women in the occult from 19th century mediums to present day social media witches. The book is broken down into five approaches to the occult: women who first presented occult ideas into mainstream society; women using the occult to introduce political change; women who used occult tools to earn income; the skeptics who challenged the occult; and present day practices and ideas about the occult.

What I enjoyed: the authors talked about the evolution of occult ideas to the present day version inclusive of different races and genders. I appreciated the explanation of how under-represented groups use the occult to influence social and political change, and there was a balanced perspective highlighting positive and negative impacts of occult movements and waves of popularity.

Now for the not-so-good: the book was not organized chronologically so there was a lot of jumping around in time periods, which makes it quite confusing to place notable figures on a timeline. The authors also tried to include too many figures and, while I appreciate the effort to be thorough, there was an overwhelming amount of biographical information about numerous women. The material lacked unifying themes which made the reading experience fragmented and rather dry. Ultimately not one of my favourites about witchcraft.

[Ashley (Red-Haired Ash Reads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very interesting look at the history of the occult and how women influenced it. There were a lot of remarkable women discussed in this book, many of which I hadn’t heard of before. This covers a large breath of history and discusses modern occult as well. I really found the discussions of modern occult practices interesting because of how the internet changed everything and can make it easier to identify frauds.

Overall, this was a very interesting book and one that I probably should revisit in physical form so I can take notes as I go.

[Miss Syreena]

This is not a book about witches and witchcraft - it’s a brief review of some women who have been in the business of the occult - mostly focusing on psychics and spiritualists. The focus is on the occult as an outlet for female independence and not about any spirituality, paganism, or religion. It’s also written by folks outside of the field who maybe had a book deal based on their other popular book about women writers. Worth a skim if you’re curious, and will lead to some interesting bookclub questions- but please do your own research! The book is broad strokes short vignettes.

[Rowan's Bookshelf (Carleigh) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I keep flipping between 3 stars and 4, but ultimately I enjoyed this book and would recommend - with the expectation that this is more of a "famous women in occult history" than a full women's history OF the occult. It is chapters of interesting women, that are very boiled down and sometimes not ENITRELY accurate, but gets the main point across. A good beginner's history, and its entertaining at that.

[Emily Curtis · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF’d at about 120 pages. I really wanted to enjoy this, but throughout each brief entry, I got frustrated by how tangential and meandering most of the stories were, often losing focus and diving deep into subplots or taking a chapter written about person a, only to feature a page and a half about person b, who had their own chapter later in the book! I found myself looking up all the featured historic figures on my own because the text kept going off-topic. The cover art and binding is gorgeous, but trying to read through this was a slog. If nothing else, I’ll pull the names from each section and go find further reading elsewhere.

[Alden Schmidt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-researched history of women in the occult in US history. Women empowerment and activism are at the core of this book's intention as it explains how these women changed the perception of women in a patriarchal society.

[Tiffany · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wish this was better.

[mads · Rating 4 out of 5]

honestly really enjoyed it for nonfiction but i did listen to it as an audiobook so not sure how much i truly retained.

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this read. It was interesting seeing the struggles and progress women went through to be themselves.

[Lily Davies · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love historical women (and NBs) who were spooky and in control

[Kenzie Erin · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was very excited to read this book as it is such an interesting topic that you do not see much on, especially one that is so inclusive. However, I was incredibly disappointed in the level of research conducted, lack of sources, lack of bibliography and the presumptive writing style. There was a lot of incorrect information being pushed as fact at the beginning of the book and due to this I was not able to finish it. I was shocked that these were professors who wrote this, who did not know how to properly site, research or write a non-fiction work that they are pushing as being fact. The most blatant was when they said Salem is the first time we see the Occult in the United States when a simple google search pops up academic journals clearly stating otherwise. (No dates mentioned by the way, and this occurred around 1690) There are references of the occult in the U.S in the 1640s in Connecticut and I’m sure earlier ones than that.

Also, another huge issue I had with this work is the authors presume to know what the individual’s intentions, thoughts and feelings were about certain situations without providing legitimate first hand accounts whether that is through writing or verba. This is a huge no.no when writing history as we cannot assume to know what an individual is thinking or their motives and then present our own projections of the situation as fact. Let alone doing it without sourcing.

This work was lazy, poorly researched and badly written where the authors spent more time worrying about the aesthetic of the work than the actual content. I never rate anything 1 star but I can’t in good conscience give this anything more as that would mean it had something redeemable. I know this may seem harsh, but it boils my blood when you see a work being pushed as informative, non-fiction only to find out it is riddled with false and misleading information.

Also, just to clarify my background, I did a double major in English Lit and Communications (focus on media and war propaganda) with a minor in History (modern warfare/Russian/German history) aka, my whole degree was based around how to properly write and research.

I was given an ARC from Netgalley to review this book.

[Megan Wybie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Man I'm so disappointed. Occult history is totally my jam and I was so jazzed to pick this book up at my local bookstore, with its compelling title and drop-dead gorgeous cover art. It just... It didn't work out.

If you took a university lecture hall full of second year history students and assigned each of them a 3-5 page report on a different significant woman in American occult history, then stapled the reports together without any further editing, you would get this book. The structure feels more like a 'witch of the day' calendar or set of collectible baseball cards. It doesn't provide a coherent narrative, instead jumping around to provide biographies in no particular order except in vaguely structured units such as 'designing witches' or '100% that witch.’

On top of the structure there are some historical inaccuracies, other reviewers have pointed to some but one I immediately noticed was the assertion that the Seneca Falls Convention took place in Rochester. I assure you the Seneca Falls Convention took place in Seneca Falls. It seems a minor thing but it certainly gives its credibility a knock. I can only think now what other incorrect statements I read that I didn't pick up on. If you have to double check every fact in a history book before you feel confident trotting them out in public discussion then the history book hasn't done its job.

Finally I had issue with the shallowness of discussion. When the writers discussed the topic of cultural appropriation, which is certainly a problem in the Pagan and Occult community they boiled an extremely nuanced and complicated subject down to essentially 'white women shouldn't burn sage or practice hoodoo.' In my opinion if you can't be bothered to give a subject the care and analysis it deserves and requires it's better to leave it entirely alone.

I will be keeping this book on my shelf though as the cover is absolutely gorgeous so I guess there's that.

[Chelsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to love this book, and regardless of my reservations, I'm so glad that it exists, but in reality this is a 2.5 star book for me.

The authors take a look at the history of the occult through various significant female figures in loosely formed themes. Whilst the format largely works, it becomes quite meandering and repetitive.

My biggest gripe with this book is that there were so many women that I wanted more of a deep dive on. Most of the book is largely anecdotal, scratching-the-surface summaries of prominent occult figures many of whom could have, in my opinion, been sacrificed to allow greater page count for other subjects. I'd have prefered a more in depth, thoroughly researched section on many of the women or topics discussed. But at least it's given me a starting point to other things I want to read up more on.

Overall the book just wasn't very well written and the subject matter had the potential to be far more engaging than it actually was. Again, I'm glad the book exists though, and I've learned some interesting facts that have left me hungry for more on the subject.

[Morgan Gage · Rating 3 out of 5]

trying to record all the books i’ve read recently because i forgot i had a goodreads — excellent book. it’s a fast-paced read that narrows in on a rather niche area of history. balances skepticism with respect for the real women mentioned and their earnest beliefs and experiences well