Alex Mar is a writer and skeptic. Like many people in her age bracket, she doesn’t feel a connection to the religion in which she was raised. But she envies those who do — in particular, the witches. Witches of America is a chronicle of Mar’s exploration of witchcraft, from its (surprisingly contemporary) roots to…
Tag: history
Review: The Devil in the White City
On February 24th, 1890, Chicago was chosen to host a world’s fair that celebrated the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ discovery of the New World. Daniel H. Burnham — who later designed New York City’s famous Flatiron Building — was chosen to put together and lead the group of designers and architects responsible for building the…
Review: The Midnight Assassin
In the early 1880s, the city of Austin, Texas was on the rise. The backwater at the edge of the United States was officially a boom town, complete with over 11,000 citizens, an air-cooled ice cream parlor, and an opera house. The town coffers were full, and the new Capitol building (under construction since 1882)…
Review: Unmentionable
If you’ve always thought that a clean, simple frock is better than low-rise jeans, that you would enjoy living in the time of Charlotte Bronte, or that the centuries before ours were simpler and better…this book is not for you. Unmentionable: The Victorian Lady’s Guide to Sex, Marriage, and Manners will disabuse you of the…
Review: The Scarlet Sisters
Victoria Woodhull and Tennessee Claftin were two of the children of a backwater snake oil salesman. The sisters spent their childhoods telling fortunes and handing out quack cures. They were not destined for great things. But the Gilded Age had a habit of propelling the least likely people to unimaginable heights. In a time when…