Witchcraft in Illinois: A Cultural History by Michael Kleen covers the history of supposedly documented witchcraft in Illinois. The author covers events of a suspicious nature that occurred across the entirety of Illinois but with a focus on Southern Illinois and other rural areas (likely where folk practices would be more common). This historical period covered was wide, from the days of French exploration, up through the earlier parts of the 20th century. The author then moves on to focusing more on witchcraft as a practice and how he believes to combat it.

Rating: 2/5 Stars

Recommendation: This book was certainly written from the perspective of a historian, and likely one that has negative opinions about witchcraft. The summary of the book refers to witchcraft as the “dark arts” and in many places the author refers to what most would consider folk healing or superstition as witchcraft. Towards the end of the book he covers the reasons that witchcraft is practiced, and he notes only negative reasons. His presentation of the material did not come across as unbiased and this may be too much of a turn off for modern day witches. Thus, this book is likely more appropriately suited to historians that have an interest in the occult, or genealogical interest in Illinois. In addition, while the narrative was sometimes informational, it was also disorganized. It felt like the autor jumped around between topics and areas, to the point where it was hard to keep track of what was going on or being discussed. I read this book as an e-book from my library and will not be purchasing a print copy. ( )