Between 1450 and 1750 more than 100,000 people, mainly women, in Europe and colonial America were prosecuted for practicing harmful magic and worshipping the devil. Witches examines this persecution and the religious hysteria that inspired it, tracing its roots back to the savage suppression of the heretical Waldensian sect by the Catholic Church. Witches is a thorough and absorbing account of the persecution of this group of people throughout the world.