Witches in Scotland received vicious treatment in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and this book helps to explain the background to Scotland's persecution, the infamous trials and the perceptions of witchcraft that contributed to why witches were deemed 'enemies of the state and church'. It also looks at infamous witch trials, as well as the laws under which witches were tried and punished. The persecution continued until judges realised that witchcraft, where no violence was used, caused no harm. However, the treatment of witches makes this area of Scottish history a particularly nasty episode in history, and very unpleasant reading. This book is a well written and sensitive explanation of how society feared and blamed and victimised witches who were mostly women but targeted some men and their animals.