Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft
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Narrated by:
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Eric Brooks
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By:
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Sir Walter Scott
About this listen
In ill health following a stroke, Sir Walter Scott wrote Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft at the behest of his son-in-law, J. G. Lockhart, who worked for a publishing firm. The book proved popular, and Scott was paid £600, which he desperately needed. (Despite his success as a novelist, Scott was almost ruined when the Ballantyne publishing firm, where he was a partner, went bankrupt in 1826.)
Letters was written when educated society believed itself in enlightened times due to advances in modern science. Letters, however, revealed that all social classes still held beliefs in ghosts, witches, warlocks, fairies, elves, diabolism, the occult, and even werewolves. Sourcing from prior 16th- and 17th-century treatises on demonology, along with contemporary accounts from England, Europe, and North America (Cotton Mather's Magnalia Christi, for one), Scott's discourses on the psychological, religious, physical, and preternatural explanations for these beliefs are essential for acolytes of the dark and macabre; the letters dealing with witch hunts, trials (Letters Eight and Nine), and torture are morbidly compelling.
Scott was neither fully pro-rational modernity nor totally anti-superstitious past, as his skepticism of one of the "new" sciences (skullology, as he calls it) is made clear in a private letter to a friend. Thus, Letters is both a personal and intellectual examination of conflicting belief systems, at a time when popular science began to challenge superstition in earnest.
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Editorial reviews
In Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft, Sir Walter Scott rationally explores the existence of supernatural phenomena like ghosts and witches. One wouldn't expect an internationally acclaimed author raised in the glow of the Enlightenment to believe in apparitions, and in this audiobook Scott debunks ghost stories, witch trials, and demons with slightly amused conviction.
Erik Brooks performs this epistolary work with deliberation and a lingering pronunciation that helps tether Scott's complex prose. This is one of the great Scottish author's last books, for he died three years after his son-in-law urged him to write it while Scott recovered from a fit of apoplexy.
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Story
Why do otherwise intelligent individuals form seething masses of idiocy when they engage in collective action? We may think that the Great Crash of 1929, junk bonds of the '80s, and over-valued high-tech stocks of the '90s are peculiarly 20th century aberrations, but Mackay's classic - first published in 1841 - shows that the madness and confusion of crowds knows no limits, and has no temporal bounds.
-
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People don't change
- By J. on 07-05-16
By: Charles MacKay
-
The Devils of Loudun
- A True Story of Demonic Possession
- By: Aldous Huxley
- Narrated by: Matthew Lloyd Davies
- Length: 13 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1632, an entire convent in the small French village of Loudun was apparently possessed by the devil. After a sensational and celebrated trial, the convent's charismatic priest Urban Grandier - accused of spiritually and sexually seducing the nuns in his charge - was convicted of being in league with Satan. Then he was burned at the stake for witchcraft. A remarkable true story of religious and sexual obsession, The Devils of Loudun is considered by many to be Brave New World author Aldous Huxley's nonfiction masterpiece.
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- By Grant on 09-08-20
By: Aldous Huxley
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The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling
- By: Henry Fielding
- Narrated by: Kenneth Danzinger
- Length: 35 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
A foundling of mysterious parentage, Tom Jones is brought up by the benevolent and wealthy Squire Allworthy as his own son. Tom falls in love with the beautiful and unattainable Sophia Western, a neighbor’s daughter, whose marriage has already been arranged. When Tom’s sexual misadventures around the countryside get him banished, he sets out to make his fortune and find his true identity.
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Well read, many accents, older recording
- By Elizabeth on 12-16-10
By: Henry Fielding
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- Narrated by: Marnie MacAdam
- Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Heidi is sent to live with her embittered grandfather high in the Swiss Alps. Heidi's innocent joy of life and genuine concern and love for all living things become the old man's salvation. From the goat - herder Peter and his family to the sickly girl Clara and her desperate father, Heidi's special charm enriches everyone she meets. Unselfish to the core, Heidi's goodness overcomes all obstacles - even those seemingly insurmountable.
-
-
Auditory quality not acceptable
- By D. A. Smith on 07-28-13
By: Johanna Spyri
-
A Delusion of Satan
- The Full Story of the Salem Witch Trials
- By: Frances Hill
- Narrated by: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
During the bleak winter of 1692 in the rigid Puritan community of Salem Village, Massachusetts, a group of young girls began experiencing violent fits, allegedly tormented by Satan and the witches who worshipped him. From the girls' initial denouncing of an Indian slave, the accusations soon multiplied. In less than two years, 19 men and women were hanged, one was pressed to death, and over a hundred others were imprisoned and impoverished. This evenhanded and now-classic history illuminates the horrifying episode with visceral clarity.
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Story
Jonathan Swift is best remembered today as the author of Gulliver’s Travels, the satiric fantasy that quickly became a classic and has remained in print for nearly three centuries. Yet Swift also wrote many other influential works, was a major political and religious figure in his time, and became a national hero, beloved for his fierce protest against English exploitation of his native Ireland. What is really known today about the enigmatic man behind these accomplishments? Can the facts of his life be separated from the fictions?
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JOHNATHAN SWIFT AND POWER OF THE PEN
- By chetyarbrough.blog on 09-30-14
By: Leo Damrosch
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Vicar of Wakefield
- By: Oliver Goldsmith
- Narrated by: Patrick Tull
- Length: 7 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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The simple village vicar, Mr. Primrose, is living with his wife and six children in complete tranquility until unexpected calamities force them to weather one hilarious adventure after another. Goldsmith plays out this classic comedy of manners with a light, ironic touch that is irresistibly charming.
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Snidely Whiplash Ravishes Hapless Maidens
- By Joseph R on 12-26-09
By: Oliver Goldsmith
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The Life of Samuel Johnson
- By: James Boswell
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 51 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Charming, vibrant, witty and edifying, The Life of Samuel Johnson is a work of great obsession and boundless reverence. The literary critic Samuel Johnson was 54 when he first encountered Boswell; the friendship that developed spawned one of the greatest biographies in the history of world literature. The book is full of humorous anecdote and rich characterization, and paints a vivid picture of 18th-century London, peopled by prominent personalities of the time.
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Wonderful!
- By Tad Davis on 02-02-18
By: James Boswell
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Common Sense
- By: Thomas Paine
- Narrated by: Adrian Cronauer
- Length: 1 hr and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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This pamphlet, first published in 1776, set in print the word every American was thinking about, but none dared say: independence! It was published anonymously in New York, selling 120,000 copies in the first 3 months and half a million in that same year. Its author, Thomas Paine, wrote in a language that could be understood by any reasonably literate colonist. But more important than it being so well received, is that it captured the American colonists' imaginations and was a primary catalyst to the independence movement in the United States. Noted American historian Bernard Bailyn called it "the most brilliant pamphlet written during the American Revolution, and one of the most brilliant ever written in the English language."
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revolutionary ideas for sure
- By reggie p on 08-20-03
By: Thomas Paine
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God's Traitors
- Terror & Faith in Elizabethan England
- By: Jessie Childs
- Narrated by: James Adams
- Length: 14 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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For many Catholics, the Elizabethan "Golden Age" was an alien concept. Following the criminalization of their religion by Elizabeth I, nearly 200 Catholics were executed, and many more wasted away in prison during her reign. Torture was used more than at any other time in England's history. While some bowed to the pressure of the government and new church, publicly conforming to acts of Protestant worship, others did not - and quickly found themselves living in a state of siege.
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Well-researched, well-written
- By Charles on 03-23-15
By: Jessie Childs
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Don Quixote
- By: Tobias Smollett - translator, Miguel de Cervantes
- Narrated by: Robert Whitfield
- Length: 36 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Don Quixote, the world's first novel and by far the best-known book in Spanish literature, was originally intended by Cervantes as a satire on traditional popular ballads, yet he also parodied the romances of chivalry. By happy coincidence he produced one of the most entertaining adventure stories of all time and, in Don Quixote and his faithful squire, Sancho Panza, two of the greatest characters in fiction.
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A MUST READ CLASSIC
- By Randall on 04-25-09
By: Tobias Smollett - translator, and others
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The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini
- By: Benvenuto Cellini
- Narrated by: Robert Whitfield
- Length: 15 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Master Italian sculptor, goldsmith, and writer Benvenuto Cellini is best remembered for his magnificent autobiography. In this work, which was actually begun in 1558 but not published until 1730, Cellini beautifully chronicles his flamboyant times. He tells of his adventures in Italy and France, and his relations with popes, kings, and fellow artists.
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The problem is with Cellini himself.
- By Leslie Ross on 06-07-10
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Joseph Andrews
- By: Henry Fielding
- Narrated by: John Telfer
- Length: 13 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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In one of the first novels in the English language, we follow the picaresque adventures of Joseph Andrews, a virtuous young man who is keen to maintain his innocence despite being coerced by nearly every woman he encounters.
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Action and Ideas
- By John on 01-27-20
By: Henry Fielding
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A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland
- By: Samuel Johnson, James Boswell
- Narrated by: Patrick Tull, Alexander Spencer
- Length: 4 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1773, 63-year-old literary giant Samuel Johnson joined James Boswell, a 32-year-old Scottish lawyer, on an historic horseback expedition across the Scottish Highlands to the Western Islands. The unlikely duo's travelogue records their fascinating conversations and encounters with great wit and incredible detail. Johnson, one of the 18th century's most celebrated writers, provided an elegant and stately account of everything from Loch Ness's medicinal waters to Scotland's puzzling lack of trees.
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Tasty, but abridged
- By Tad Davis on 08-22-13
By: Samuel Johnson, and others
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The Year of Lear
- Shakespeare in 1606
- By: James Shapiro
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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In the years leading up to 1606, since the death of Queen Elizabeth and the arrival in England of her successor, King James of Scotland, Shakespeare's great productivity had ebbed, and it may have seemed to some that his prolific genius was a thing of the past. But that year, at age 42, he found his footing again, finishing a play he had begun the previous autumn - King Lear - then writing two other great tragedies, Macbeth and Antony and Cleopatra.
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Detailed and satisfying
- By Tad Davis on 02-24-16
By: James Shapiro
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Our Oriental Heritage
- The Story of Civilization, Volume 1
- By: Will Durant
- Narrated by: Robin Field
- Length: 50 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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The first volume of Will Durant's Pulitzer Prize-winning series, Our Oriental Heritage: The Story of Civilization, Volume I chronicles the early history of Egypt, the Middle East, and Asia.
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Wonderful
- By Michael on 11-30-13
By: Will Durant
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Oroonoko
- By: Aphra Behn
- Narrated by: Clare Wille
- Length: 3 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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A vivid love story and adventure tale, Oroonoko is a heroic slave narrative about a royal prince and his fight for freedom. The eponymous hero, Oroonoko, deemed royalty in one world and slave in another, is torn from his noble status and betrayed into slavery in Surinam, where he is reduced to chains, fetters, and shackles. But his high spirit and admirable character will not be suppressed.
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Outstanding Narration, Story Less So
- By Carsley on 07-14-18
By: Aphra Behn
What listeners say about Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Jedediah Parish
- 10-23-23
Fascinating
I didn't quite know what to expect that this ends up being a screed against credulousness and superstition. but you also get to hear all the wonderful tales of witches and ghosts! the narrator is interesting, feel like he'd be well-suited reading a children's story.
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- JEREMY EAGLEBEAR
- 11-11-24
very interesting and entertaining.
this glance at history was quite interesting and engaging. I recommend for anyone who is fascinated by the trials and torments of perceived witches.
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- August B.
- 11-10-20
Some good folklore
Scott spends a lot of time trying convince the reader that witchcraft prosecutions are wrong
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2 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 04-21-22
Interesting...
This book accounts for an array of things from the best of Sir Walter Scott's understanding. Largely it details the trial and execution of alleged witches. The latter part of the book focuses on the author's dismissal of ghosts. The early part reflects on accounts within the Bible in regards to witches. It's interesting and overall charming.
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- Eric
- 11-16-13
Good period research
Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?
As an academic resource this is a great book. However, it lacks any real narrative and seeks to "debunk" each and eery aspect of the supernatural. Which is okay, but not as interesting as the social and cultural effects of "demons and witches."
What was most disappointing about Walter Scott’s story?
The dry, non-committal description. The prose is lackluster and laden with opinion and attitude not story.
What three words best describe Eric Brooks’s performance?
Confident and Competent
Did Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft inspire you to do anything?
I expanded my research several degrees and was able to pinpoint a time period in which I was going to do more research.
Any additional comments?
Get the print version - this is a seek and cite book for academic purposes, not a story book for entertainment. I'd gladly add it to my shelves but the audio version is a bit harder to cite.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Adam
- 06-22-19
It’s all in your head
Witches, demons, and ghosts are due to physical illness (e.g. extreme alcoholism), mental illness, or trickery (e.g. mirrors, conspiracy, etc.). Despite this broad dismissal, Sir Scott gives a fair hearing to each case, which range from Biblical stories to sad individuals accused of witchcraft in his day and their executions. The narration is good but periodically appears to drone. I had to take frequent breaks. It’s good but could have been better.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Josh
- 01-12-21
Very dismissive
Not what was advertised. Author gives fair review of some prominent accounts. But states essentially all paranormal accounts are due to mental illness of some kind. Very skewed view point.
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7 people found this helpful
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Overall
- Kindle Customer
- 06-09-16
Cut off after a few minutes
The audio book cut off--paused itself--after a few minutes. When I pressed the pause icon on my Kindle Fire to continue, the narration started over from the beginning. I hoped it would continue past the point where it had paused last time but no, it "paused" at the exact spot (in the middle of a word, no less) and started at the beginning again when I pressed the icon.
That is my main gripe. My second is that the narration is monotonous and stilted, pausing for long moments at every comma. As Sir Walter Scott wrote these letters around 1830 or so, the style of most of the sentences is long, with many additional clauses (calling for many commas) that either add to the sentence's original intent or divert it into another area altogether. A good narration might be able to overcome this style of writing and make it pleasant to the ear, but in this recording, by the time the sentence comes to an end, the listener has forgotten the beginning.
This recording should probably be skipped by the modern listener.
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