Content warning: witch hunts and why women in the past were accused of being witches, misogyny, the clash between the Christian and non-Christian societies, toxic masculinity, and effects of the 2016 American Presidential election.

Timestamps to skip if you don't want to listen to politics after sitting through thanksgiving dinner: 40:18 - 46:54.

Hey there witches, let's talk witchy romance books, witchy history, the linguistics of witchcraft and the sociopolitical influence of witches today! Aka yes, we're talking about witches. We'll talk about where the word "witch" comes from, discuss the 1612 Pendle and Lancashire witch trials, look at witchcraft and the 2016 election, and why we think witchy romances are so popular!

Questions/comments/concerns? Email us at ragingromantics@nopl.org!

Raging Romantics booklist

Books we mention:

• Grace Year by Kim Ligget
• Red Queen series by Victoria Aveyard
• Dread Nation by Justina Ireland
• Wilder Girls by Rory Power
• If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio
• Babel by R.F. Kuang
• Atlas Six by Olivie Blake
• Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
• Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
• Grishaverse (Shadow and Bone series) by Leigh Bardugo
• House of the dragon (for the book version read Fire and Blood by GRRM)
• Rings of Power (not a book but you can read The Silmarillion by Tolkien)
• The Women's War by Jenna Glass
• Once and Future Witches by Alix Harrow
• Circe by Madeleine Miller
• Crescent City series by Sarah J. Maas
• The Crucible (play) by Arthur J. Miller
• Malleus Maleficarium read free online
• "Demonology" (Daemonologie) by James VI (read free online)
• Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams
• Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
• Demon Slayers/Biker Witches series by Angie Fox
• Babes on Brooms by Vicki Lewis Thompson
• Practical Magic series by Alice Hoffman
• Year One series by Nora Roberts
• Little Shop of Found Things by Paula Brackston
• Witch of Willow Hall by Hester Fox
• Blacksmith Queen by G.A. Aiken
• Cackle by Rachel Harrison
• Witch Please by Anne Aguirre
• Ex Hex by Erin Sterling
• Payback’s A Witch by Lana Harper
• A Letter to Three Witches by Elizabeth Bass
• Not the Witch You Wed by April Asher
• League of Gentlewomen Witches by India Holton
• Go Hex Yourself by Jessica Clare
• Small Town, Big Magic by Hazel Beck

Episodes to listen to:

• #21 Into the Unknown with Paranormal Romance
• #32 To Shun or Not To Shun Amish Romance Novels

Sources:

• "European Witch-Hunting (A Brief History)" (Nitschke, 2022)
• "Pendle Witches" (wikipedia)
• "The Pendle Witches" (Castelow, n.d.)
• "Witch" (Online Etymology Dictionary)
• "Witchcraft" (ibid.)
• "Old English—an overview" (OED online)
• "Anna Göldi" (wikipedia)
• "Blake Morrison: under the witches' spell" (Morrison, 2012)
• The Lancashire Witches : a chronicle of sorcery and death on Pendle Hill (Almond, 2012)
• "Lancaster Castle" (Wikipedia)
• The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Lancaster (Thomas Potts, 1613)
• "'Broad City' ’s Excellent, Witchy Answer to the Trump Effect" (St. Felix, 2017)
• "Labeling and oppression: Witchcraft in Medieval Europe" (Campbell, 1978)
• "Is Exodus 22:18 a Command for Christians to Kill Witches?" (Goble, 2010)
• "Queen Elizabeth I and government" (bbc.co.uk, n.d.)
• "Queen Elizabeth I and Catholics" (elizabethi.org, n.d.)
• "Trends in YA since the 2016 election and what they say about current society" (Jensen, 2019)
• "This Exhibit About Witch Hunting Is Not About Donald Trump (But It’s Still Politically Spellbinding)" (Keats, 2020)
• "This Halloween, witches are casting spells to defeat Trump and #WitchTheVote in the U.S. election" (Keller and Mulvey, 2020)
• "How the 2016 Election Led to Lyssa Kay Adams’s Bromance Book Club" (Reading Women, 2020)
• "Impact of Witch-Hunting on Feminism and Legitimacy of Donald Trump’s Politics" (Chadha and Narang, 2021)