"This is the most vivid and accessible introduction to the world's most notorious witch trials that a newcomer is likely to find, and also a very timely warning for the present."
—Ronald Hutton, author of The Witch: A History of Fear, from Ancient Times to the Present

"In this fascinating and powerful look at the story of one family caught up in the Salem witch trials, Alice Markham-Cantor performs a kind of literary magic, blending fact and fiction into a form perfectly suited to the troubling subject matter and the limits of the historical record. The exact truth of what happened to her ancestor Martha Carrier will never be known, but thanks to this indelible book, readers can imagine Martha's life and, alas, her death."
—Ann Packer, author of The Children's Crusade

"Through lively characters and fast-paced storytelling, Markham-Cantor transports us directly into the world of the Salem witch trials. The Once & Future Witch Hunt clearly shows that there is nothing exceptional about the conditions in which witch hunts arise. Rather, we see how the urge to blame, scapegoat, and other is all too typically human."
—Miranda Forsyth, director of the International Network Against Accusations of Witchcraft and Associated Harmful Practices

"Alice Markham-Cantor has done a remarkable thing here. From the sparest bones of ancestor's story, she has fashioned a thoroughly engaging work of scholarship that is equal parts historical fiction, personal narrative, feminist theory, and a good old-fashioned detective yarn. In The Once & Future Witch Hunt, Markham-Cantor rescues Martha Carrier from one of the darkest corners of our nation's past. Her voice, and Markham-Cantor's too, will linger in your memory long after you've turned the final page."
—Alexandra Styron, author of Reading My Father

"Once started, I could not put this book down. The author's remote ancestor becomes a real person, whose death by hanging was provoked by neighbours' claims of her witchcraft, encouraged by religious leaders. The modern cases listed show such beliefs occurring world-wide and generating similar responses."
—Jean La Fontaine, author of Witches and Demons: A Comparative Perspective on Witchcraft and Satanism

"A scholarly and also magical interweaving of two stories, two historical periods, and two women's sensibilities: of the author, delving deep into the history of Salem and her own distant ancestor; and of that person, Martha Carrier....Through fictional recreations, Markham-Cantor brings to vivid life a sharp and independent woman, and how a community rallied around a crescendo of false accusations of her and others; and in passages detailing her own research journey, the author sets the destructive misogyny of that time in the wider context of witch trials before and since, in the United States and elsewhere. A compelling, eye-opening, and chilling read."
—Sylvia Brownrigg, author of The Whole Staggering Mystery