Malcolm Gaskill

A very enjoyable biography-cum-social history of how witchcraft and witch trials crossed from England and Europe to the young America.

It’s in some ways easier to understand the hold that a fear of witches had in America than in the Old World of the same period. The settlers found themselves in a dangerous position, both in respect of the Native Americans whose lands they were encroaching on and of the lands themselves, which remained largely unknown and untamed. The instability this gave rise to made life less predictable, and so people looked for explanations through which to make sense of it – and preferred supernatural malignity to natural indifference.

It’s also fascinating to see how complex and semi-feudal the interactions were between people in the newly-settled villages, but also between the townships that vied for control and influence. The fact that “witches” often went unconvicted and unpunished (if they moved away) suggests that the motives involved in their pursuit were neither purely religious nor especially prioritised.

3/5. Finished Thursday 27 April, 2023.

(Originally published on Goodreads.)

William Gibson (2014)

Definitely a book in the recognisible style of Neuromancer, based on a complicated premise of multiple worlds and semi-shared histories. It’s possible for the inhabitants of one world (which may or may not be the “original”) to visit the parallel versions at different points in their histories, and vice versa, but not in such a way as to affect their own history: a neat way to avoid paradoxes.

I came to this book after watching the TV adaptation – which I have to say I think is better, although it strips-away some of the philosophical explanations in pursuit of a more rapid plot.

3/5. Finished Friday 14 April, 2023.

(Originally published on Goodreads.)

Cal Flyn (2021)

A book one perhaps shouldn’t enjoy as much as I did, but as an exploration of what happens when humans leave a landscape – whether one they’ve polluted or simply one they’ve abandoned – it’s actually quite reassuring even in the midst of it’s being shocking.

There is alost nowhere that’s so polluted that life of some kind can’t regain a hold, given enough time. That (as Flyn herself is at pains to point out) is not an excuse or a invitation to more spoliation, or to not prosecuting polluters; but it is a reminder that we avoid pollution and climate change for ourselves, not because the natural world will be irretrievably damaged if we don’t: the climate emergency is about saving ourselves, not about saving the planet.

4/5. Finished Saturday 1 April, 2023.

(Originally published on Goodreads.)

Cal Flyn (2021)

A book one perhaps shouldn’t enjoy as much as I did, but as an exploration of what happens when humans leave a landscape – whether one they’ve polluted or simply one they’ve abandoned – it’s actually quite reassuring even in the midst of it’s being shocking.

There is alost nowhere that’s so polluted that life of some kind can’t regain a hold, given enough time. That (as Flyn herself is at pains to point out) is not an excuse or a invitation to more spoliation, or to not prosecuting polluters; but it is a reminder that we avoid pollution and climate change for ourselves, not because the natural world will be irretrievably damaged if we don’t: the climate emergency is about saving ourselves, not about saving the planet.

4/5. Finished Saturday 1 April, 2023.

(Originally published on Goodreads.)

Philip Roth (2004)

A carefully-constructed counterfactual of a fictional Lindbergh presidency and of America’s descent into fascism – before being saved from itself by the entreaties of a revered and bereaved widow. It’s clever and evocatively written from the perspective of a 9-year-old surrogate of Roth himself, and so convincing that the author feels the need to include a summary of the real historical figures he mentions as an appendix.

Reading this book in 2023 brings out some echoes that perhaps wouldn’t have been apparent on an earlier reading. There’s a lot of consideration of fake news, of misinformation and questionable government initiatives, and even of a “Big Lie” that populists and fabulists can lock onto. And it’s shocking that some the anti-Semitism that existed before and during the war still exists today, in an increasingly-less-camouflaged form.

3/5. Finished Saturday 1 April, 2023.

(Originally published on Goodreads.)