European Magic and Witchcraft: A Reader. Ed. Martha Rampton. Readings in Medieval Civilizations and Cultures, 20. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2018, pp. xv+461, 8 b/w illustrations.

In the brief preface to this collection of documents, Professor Rampton warns readers, most of whom she assumes will be college students, that they are going “to fly through a mirror,” into a distant country where they will meet people who think very differently than they do and indeed where nature seems to operate very differently than they would expect. Rampton explains that she has kept introductions to the selections “minimal,” so that readers can form their own impressions, becoming “witnesses” rather than “voyeurs.” She hopes they will appreciate the ecstasy of a magician discovering a new secret, the exasperation of a pastor whose parishioners keep going to the local cunning woman, and the indignity suffered by a woman interrogated on suspicion of being a witch.