This post contains affiliate links. If you buy something through these links, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Killing the Witches: The Horror of Salem, Massachusetts by Bill O'Reilly
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Where did the other half of the book go?!
Bill O'Reilly's Killing Series takes on mass hysteria and the occult in Killing the Witches: The Horror of Salem, Massachusetts. The first half of the book is all about the founding of Salem and really Massachusetts as a whole along with the Salem Witch Trials. That part was engaging. The audio version has a great narrator. I especially like the way he said the word 'footnote.' Then, the second half jumps off the rails and suddenly the story takes us through the life of Benjamin Franklin, the U.S. Constitution, and The Exorcist, with little to no ties to anything witchy. It touches back every now to what's up in Salem, but any trace of witches is long gone. Bill ends the book with his personal summation about a link between the Salem witch trials and the growing epidemic of today's cancel culture.
Really, this felt like chunks of three separate books mashed into one with very loose threads holding it together. It is well-written by whomever wrote it (I doubt it was O'Reilly himself), and I could tell pains had been taken to thoroughly research the trials. But then it was over too quickly.
Quick and Dirty: 3 out of 5 stars, recommend reading with the caveat that only half of the book is related to the title and promised subject.
Bill O'Reilly's Killing Series takes on mass hysteria and the occult in Killing the Witches: The Horror of Salem, Massachusetts. The first half of the book is all about the founding of Salem and really Massachusetts as a whole along with the Salem Witch Trials. That part was engaging. The audio version has a great narrator. I especially like the way he said the word 'footnote.' Then, the second half jumps off the rails and suddenly the story takes us through the life of Benjamin Franklin, the U.S. Constitution, and The Exorcist, with little to no ties to anything witchy. It touches back every now to what's up in Salem, but any trace of witches is long gone. Bill ends the book with his personal summation about a link between the Salem witch trials and the growing epidemic of today's cancel culture.
Really, this felt like chunks of three separate books mashed into one with very loose threads holding it together. It is well-written by whomever wrote it (I doubt it was O'Reilly himself), and I could tell pains had been taken to thoroughly research the trials. But then it was over too quickly.
Quick and Dirty: 3 out of 5 stars, recommend reading with the caveat that only half of the book is related to the title and promised subject.
0 comments