Killing the Witches: The Horror of Salem, Massachusetts by Bill OReilly

Killing the Witches: The Horror of Salem, Massachusetts Reviews

• 
  Lissa

  Woo boy, this book is a hot mess.
  
  I mean, I can't say that I'm surprised, considering that Bill O'Reilly is a "coauthor" (I use that term quite loosely, because I'm sure he didn't write much except that disgusting "author's note.") And I know that the "Killing" series is history lite, and that's putting it kindly. These books are not targeted to people who actually know much of anything about the history of the events they purport to discuss.
  
  I absolutely despise that this book is written in present tense. It feels weird and wrong to write supposed non-fiction (that is also putting it kindly) of historical events in present tense.
  
  I don't know much about the Salem witch trials, but quite honestly, I am taking what is in this book with a grain of salt until I learn more about them, because there were SO MANY ERRORS in the American Revolution section (more on that later). This book needs a thorough fact checking, because it is quite obvious that no one bothered to do that.
  
  And in spite of the subtitle ("The Horror of Salem, Massachusetts," which is really quite ironic, considering that I could definitely see ol' Billy Boy here screaming for the witches to be hung), only about 45% of the book actually deals with the Salem witch trials. I cannot comment on this section because, as I said, I do not have a lot of knowledge about them.
  
  The next section of the book deals with the American Revolution and has NOTHING to do with the witch trials in Salem. The authors don't even try to link what happened in Salem to later events, except that Ben Franklin met one of the pathetic Mather preachers as a boy.
  
  It is abundantly clear that the authors know very little about the American Revolution and do not care to learn beyond what their rudimentary education about the event taught them. The book is littered with glaring mistakes in this section. If I listed them all, I'd most likely run out of characters in this review before I even had the chance to get halfway close to finishing, so I'm just going to list a couple as examples of how BAD this book is when it comes to actual facts (but hey, Bill O'Reilly has never been big on THOSE now, has he?).
  
  

  Crispus Attucks is killed first...The firing continues. Five more Bostonians are shot dead within seconds. - page 200 in the hardcover

  
  
  Oh good lord.
  
  So this has to do with the event that became known as the Boston Massacre, and huge surprise, these chucklefucks got it all wrong. FIVE people ended up dying. FIVE. Not six. FIVE. How in the hell did they get the number of people killed wrong?
  
  And they were not all "shot dead within seconds." Samuel Maverick was mortally wounded in the belly and died the next morning (March 6, 1770). Patrick Carr had it even worse; he also received a mortal stomach wound and didn't die until March 14, 1770.
  
  The authors spend a great deal of time trying to make King George III the new "devil" and stating how much American colonists disliked him. Ha. Haha. Hahahahahahaha. If they had bothered to pick up a single book about the Revolution that was fact-checked (unlike their own shoddy excuse for a book), they'd realize that a vast number of colonists LIKED the king. Many pinned the blame of the unpopular acts (ie. the Stamp Act, the Sugar Act, the Intolerable Acts, etc) on PARLIAMENT and wrote NUMEROUS petitions BEGGING the king to step in and help out the colonists. Even after shots were fired in Lexington and Concord, there was a spirit of "hey, this doesn't HAVE to mean a huge break with England, we like the king, this was just a way for us to get his attention about what is really happening over here." Read up on the Olive Branch Petition if you don't believe me - it was adopted by Congress on July 5, 1775 and declared their loyalty to the crown and how this didn't have to be a permanent rift. They still considered themselves to be English - AFTER Lexington and Concord!
  
  So yeah, history isn't such a neat little package like these two authors are trying to portray.
  
  Speaking of neat little packages, it is still hotly contested and debated today about what exactly was said between the colonists and British soldiers under Captain Preston's command, but these two idiots act like they have all the answers that scholars don't. LOL
  
  The last section of the book has to do with the Exorcist, and Jesus H. Christ, why is this included in the book? Why was most of this book even written? It felt like a bunch of disjointed articles slapped together with no rhyme or reason.
  
  Besides the obvious factual errors, what really burned me was the absolute disgusting author's note that O'Reilly put at the end. He defends J. K. Rowling for "promoting traditional gender" and criticizes "trans fanatics" for speaking out against her gross transphobia. And he also tries to defend Roseanne Barr and compares "cancel culture" to the witch hunts in Salem. LMFAO.
  
  Oh Billy Boy, here's the thing sweetie: it isn't cancel culture. It's something called ACCOUNTABILITY. Do or say something disgusting, and you have to face some damn consequences for it. But heaven forbid that there are CONSEQUENCES, right? We all need to brush what the racists and misogynists and homophobes say under the rug and let them blather on all they want without pushing back, apparently.
  
  And you do NOT get to compare racists who have to face the consequences of their actions and words to INNOCENT MURDER VICTIMS.
  
  Fuck anyone who thinks this way. :D
  
  This is a library book and I am SERIOUSLY tempted to toss it in the bin and pay the fine to replace it, except I know that they'll just buy another copy of this flaming dumpster fire of a book. Sigh.
• 
  mad mags

  Is this a joke?
• 
  Mike Lewis

  45% of the book was about the Salem witch trials it was very interesting and what I was interested in. The second 45% of the book was basically a story about the founding fathers the 13 original colonies and the rise to independence. The last 10% of the book was about the original story That inspired the book in the movie the exorcist. While all of it was interesting and worth reading. I was disappointed that only the first 45% approximately was actually about the Salem witch trials. The epilogue and wrapup of the book mentioned how throughout history and even in today’s world That the world is on a witchhunt in Safari as our council culture social justice and other issues going on in the world. Once again it was all interesting but I wish the entire book was about the Salem Witch trials and more information about that in general.
• 
  Terre Arena

  Should’ve been titled “Killing Five Hours of My Time” (I should have given up after 3). The authors give you the Cliff’s Notes version of the Salem witch trials in a couple of chapters and next thing you know, you’re in Philadelphia with Ben Franklin. There are literally hundreds of excellent books out there about Salem. Keep looking, cuz this isn’t one of them.
• 
  Jackie McGuire

  I just HAD to write a review on this one because it was the most random book I have ever read. It's pretty much split into three parts:
  1). The Salem Witch Trials (as advertised!)
  2). An extension of Killing England and all about the Founding Fathers (random)
  3). The History of the movie "The Exorcist" (also very random)
  
  I really enjoyed the first third of the book, which was what I intended to read about- the rest was just random filler and detracted from the narrative as a whole. I also found that the book was incredibly non-linear, hopping around tangentially from thought to thought. I am a big fan of historical narratives but this is just not cutting it.
• 
  Brooke Nelson

  "I am no more a witch than you are a wizard.
  And if you take away my life, God will give you blood to drink."
  
  And so begins the fascinating first half of this book.
  
  I am thoroughly impressed with the writing and information presented throughout the first half. It focuses solely on the witch trials themselves and the people most closely involved.
  
  The second half takes a bit of a turn, moving onto the lasting effects of the trials and the ways in which the lessons learned (or not learned) helped the founders build America. This part I found a bit longwinded, and I wonder if perhaps the publisher insisted on a particular page count and that is why it ended up going off on this track.
  
  The end of the book comes back to modern witchcraft and black magic, witch-hunts, exorcisms, and modern-day Salem, which I think is very fitting.
  
  Regardless, as someone who already knows quite a bit about the trials, I did overall enjoy the book. I would have made it a little shorter (lol) but I enjoyed it.
  
  
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• 
  Hannah

  for a book about the salem witch trials, not a whole lot about the salem witch trials
• 
  Susan

  This felt like the lightning round of facts about the Salem Witch Trials. It was a fairly easy read but it was just so all over the place. Once history had moved far enough along to get beyond the trials it became a history lesson about the founders of our country and their push towards the Declaration of Independece. Finally a strange final telling of demonic possession. I can see the effort to bring it all back around but I was just glad to get to the last page and put it away. This was an advanced reader copy….I’m not really sure how all of that works. There were blank pages where images will be inserted before the final printing I guess. Hope it goes through another round of editing too. Lots of errors. I’ve read other books on the Salem Witch Trials that I found much more interesting but if you like your facts fast and furious you might give this a try!
• 
  Kylie B

  If you are at all versed in the Salem witch trials or even just aware of them at all, stay far far away from this book as it is an abhorrent mess. The chronology of the small section actually about the Salem witch trials jumps back and forth in a way that doesn’t make much sense. It feels odd and a bit suspicious that the title of this book is “Killing the Witches” and yet maybe 30% of the book is about the Salem witch trials. Additionally, the writers of this book make bold assertions about how individuals such as Tituba or the afflicted felt and it ignores a lot of the information or lack thereof in previous texts and documents to support some of the claims made such as motives for accusations. This entire book feels like a weird contrived justification for the ridiculous and unsurprising author’s note at the end. It is ironic that a man affiliated with a party that often uses religion as justification for condemnation/persecution of others has chosen to utilize one of the most infamous examples of using religion to condemn and persecute others all to try to say he/his party is the one being “witch hunted”.
• 
  Greg Kopstein

  As a huge fan of the series, I was so ready to read this that I preordered it and got the audiobook. And it was good… until it wasn’t.
  
  It’s easiest to describe in 3 parts:
  1: Salem
  2: Revolutionary War America
  3: The Exorcist
  
  Part 1 was excellent! I learned a lot about Salem and I even rented The Crucible. It was an excellent read about puritans and witches, the trials, the Mayflower, and societal hysteria. So good!
  
  Part 2 made no sense. It had nothing to do with Salem and nothing to do with witches or hysteria. It felt like they had a section of leftover stuff from Killing England and they threw it in here as a filler. It was neither appropriate in them nor interesting. A waste of time and it ruined the book.
  
  Part 3 about the Exorcist was good - eerily so.had goosebumps the whole time. I had no idea it was based on a true story or how intense and graphic the real event was. (I’ve also never read the book or seen the movie).
  
  This book had the capacity to be great but it seems like the authors got lazy or lacked focus. They should have done McCarthyism and the Red Scare and modern cancel culture. They talk about it in the epilogue but I guess they lacked the conviction or willingness to finish it. Instead, we got a 2nd part that was unimaginative and unrelated, leftover work at best and unfocused at worst.
  
  All in all, Parts 1 and 3 made it worthwhile and I don’t regret it. But it’s incomplete and merely a stepping stone to further books on the subject.
• 
  Vickie

  So this one is tough to rate. I totally get what the negative reviewers are saying. The title is a little misleading in the fact that the whole book does not cover the Salem witch trials. Only the first half of the book is about that topic. I'd say the book as a whole is more about religion and beliefs and how extreme those things can become. So if you're looking for a book solely on the Salem witch trials, read other books instead (or just read the first half of this one, lol). I did enjoy reading about the witch trials and also about the basis of The Exorcist and how the book and movie came to be. But my biggest complaint and why I just cannot go above 3⭐ (which I really struggled between 2 and 3) is that the authors do not have any Sources page (or Bibliography). They don't even have a photo credits page. I don't understand how that can be, how the editor(s) and publisher allowed that. I looked through previous Killing books, and they have those pages at the end. Not sure how it was missed here. Heck, even the one photo of the priest, William Bowdern is spelled incorrectly (William Bowden). Just terrible.
• 
  Timothy Boyd

  Another good read in this series. Very well researched and written. Recommendd
• 
  Rebecca

  Disappointing to be honest. For a book named after and advertised as about the Salem Witch Trials, that only took up half the story. It was also information that is widely known…. So I really learnt nothing new.
  
  The third quarter was all about Benjamin Franklin and what he was doing and then somehow changed again about a quarter from the end and gave the story of the boy who inspired the book and movie The Exorcist 🤷🏼‍♀️
  
  In the Author’s Note, they tried to bring everything together by mentioning certain “modern witch trials”, i.e. JK Rowling’s cancellation due to her comments we are currently all aware of, among a few other people.
  
  I think this was a backward way of attempting to tie the end half of the book to the first half. But everything failed miserably.
• 
  Debbie

  I’ve known about the Salem witch trials, but O’Reilly has researched and explained it all in one book. I was shocked and amazed at what happened due to unreliable accusations. The last part of the book is about the colonies break from England, the fight for religious freedom, and the Constitution. There’s also a chapter of the basis for The Exorcist.
  For all the info to be learned from this book, the most important quotes are found in the Author’s Note at the end…
  “ Today there is a new kind of witch hunt. Accusations mean guilt. The press drives that every day. No one is executed, but lives are ruined in terrible ways. And there is no forgiveness for actual transgressions. The cancel culture makes sure of that. Demonization has cast a terrible fear across the land.”
  I’ve never read truer words. Instead of endlessly watching the news, do your own research and don’t buy into the media hype.
• 
  Natalie

  Only half of the book is on the Salem Witch Trials. The Author's Note is asinine.
• 
  Kevin

  A very interesting history of the Salem witch trials… truly unbelievable it happened.
  
  
• 
  Christina DeVane

  Fascinating read! Only about 100 pages are about the actual witch trials as he adds in so much history leading up to them, then after telling how religion continued to shape government and policies.
  
  The witch trials of 1692 are rather horrific as over 200 people were imprisoned and 20 hung because they would not admit they were a witch. Young girls claimed they were tormented by these people’s ghosts and the girls would convulse and thrash during the trials.
  
  The book doesn’t talk much about why these girls were doing this, but some say they were suffering from hysteria and no one knew how to deal with it. They just believed the girls and what they said about these ghosts.
  
  It wasn’t only women accused of being witches, some men were hung too. Women in their 70s were accused down to a 4yr old girl being hung for this! 😭😭
  
  Several Puritan preachers were very openly supportive of the trials causing even more damage. It wasn’t until the governor’s wife was accused of being a witch that the governor stepped in and stopped the trials!
  
  I learned so many nuggets of other history that I so enjoyed! Much of it related to separation of church and state and how that came to be.
  
  On the Mayflower a man went overboard, but grabbed a rope. He was narrowly rescued and survived the voyage and his descendants included George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.
  
  Benjamin Franklin and George Whitfield were friends and business partners. Whether Franklin ever accepted Christ is questionable but Whitfield continually implored him to.
  
  Patrick Henry wanted to make Christianity the state religion, but thankfully that didn’t go through. Henry and James Madison disagreed heatedly over many things.
  
  The part about the exorcist was a little creepy, but very interesting and believable. The book and movie are based on the real life experiences of a teenage boy who became demon-possessed. I personally believe in that spirit world as I’ve heard too many stories to think otherwise. Satan and his demons are very much at work in this world. Am I going to read the book or watch the movie? Absolutely not.☺️
  At the end he calls our current cancel culture as our modern day witch hunt. Was a bit of a stretch.
  
  There is some language in quotes.
  So glad I read this and would recommend for any history reader!
• 
  Cari Legere

  I originally thought this wasn't bad. However, once I got past the ACTUAL Salem Witch Trials, I was left wondering, "SO WHAT IN THE WORLD DOES THE US REVOLUTION HAVE TO DO WITH THIS?!" Sure, I read it, but it's not what I expected. The present-tense writing style wasn't my favorite either. And then we get the most random part of all: the real-life story of The Exorcist. It was cool, yes, but very random. It felt as if O'Reilly went, "Hey, y'know what? This isn't long enough, so why don't we throw in the true story of The Exorcist?"
  
  The worst part? I used to listen to Bill O'Reilly on the radio, and I heard him shamelessly promote his Killing books as if they were the best history books ever written. As a history buff, I automatically thought, "I need to give these a try!" He especially talked about Killing the Witches. I've always been interested in the Salem Witch Trials, so I asked for a copy. Well, I received my copy, and I felt like I'd been ripped off when I finished it. I bet I could've found out more from the Internet—and that's saying something.
  
  So, in case y'all are wondering, it's okay, but not worth the 20 bucks. Get it used or from the library if you want to give it a try.
• 
  Janine

  Ok, so this book is called Killing the Witches, but while the first two hours were about Salem, the following five are about Ben Franklin and the Founding Fathers with some mentions of “oh look at this connection to Salem,” and concluding with the backstory of demonic possession and The Exorcist. Let’s not forget that in his Author’s Note O’Reilly casually remarks on the connections to modern “witch hunts” and “cancel culture” (of which he himself has been subjected to). Don’t say this book is about Salem and the witch hunts when you give that time period a visceral treatment at best. Boy, bye.
• 
  Kristina M.

  This book was an absolute disappointment. I teach The Crucible, so I was excited to learn even more actual history than I already know. A third of the way through the book that ended, and I was back in US History class/watching Hamilton and then segued into The Exorcist. Where were the transitions? Why was it called Killing the Witches when that was only one-third of the book? I’m perplexed…
• 
  Anna Riley

  This has been my favorite non-fiction book I've read in a long time. I actually feel like I learned a lot of facts that I either don't remember from school-or was never taught. It held my attention and I read it in one day!
• 
  Michele

  This was a very interesting book, and I really learned a lot, but I feel like the last third of the book was unnecessary, and veered way off course. It was still informative and enjoyable.
• 
  Maddie

  The witches were done dirty AGAIN. The first half of this book was great, and then it ventured into old president territory.
• 
  Cat Rutherford

  Very very interesting read. For those who love American history and the witch trials this is 100% the read for you. I enjoyed the deep dive into the witch trials themselves and then in the back half of the book it goes into more detail about how the trials shaped America and our constitution. I didn’t realize the lingering impact the trials had on the nation long after they were done.
• 
  Fantasia ☮HippieMoonchild☮

  Rating: 3.8 / 5
  
  Admittedly, this is pretty darn good! Not the most glowing way to start off a review; but, honestly, what else can I say if that's what I honestly think?
  
  A lot of it was a bit of repetition for me, as I already knew most of the things talked about here from previous research in one of my university papers, which I focused on witchcraft. This book delivers exactly what it promises though: a focus on Salem, its background, and the hysteria behind the 1692 witch trials. (Though granted, I will admit that once it started talking about NOT Salem, I just put the book down, for fear of giving it a negative review, as some others that I've been seeing. Best to focus only on what I care about and stick to the basics there, yeah?)
  
  Ahem, anyway, in terms of what I think it does well, I like how this book kind of reads like a narrative, just with third person omniscient as a viewpoint and no real dialogue. That makes it slightly more engaging to read than a dry, boring biography on any subject, no matter how much you like it!
  
  Also, what it does well is being objective, in that it doesn't really cast judgement on saying why people did things, as opposed to representing a possibility of why things may have happened the way they did. There is a slight difference there, but one that I appreciate, especially when an author tackles as controversial a topic as witchcraft--which enough people shy away from anyway, let's face it!
  
  HOWEVER
  
  In terms of why this isn't a 5-star read for me, I'd have to say that it's precisely because the book tries to stick as much as possible to the facts, but doesn't really try to go beyond that and analyze. I mean, I guess that's not the point of biographies anyway, but in other books that I've read up on the subject (like for my thesis), there's a lot of connection to the origins of when people first started being afraid of witchcraft, the reasons behind making accusations, and how the carry over from Europe is super important to recognizing the background of how a case like Salem got to be so bad--and how it's not even the worst!
  
  It just feels like an incomplete story without referencing some of that background. For example, while we start off the story with the narrative of colonialism and the first sailing of the Mayflower, one thing that's absent is explaining just what the background of the Puritans is, and the persecution that they faced back in England. I mean, sure, it's alluded to as their reason for sailing to the New World in the first place, but a Puritan is never really defined or given their own historical background. I mean, if someone picked up just this book, the only idea they'd get about Puritans is that they're religious extremists who only care about having a lot of rules and being strict on themselves and each other, when that's really not the full story! I mean, pardon me for assuming, but I'd say that when you describe a group of people as not celebrating Easter or Christmas and being against those that do, you NEED to give a bit of background for why they thought this, otherwise some readers may just assume the worst and start applying unwarranted labels.
  
  So...yeah, some missing pieces to the puzzle, but not enough for me to really comment (or deduct stars) beyond that. As a beginner's guide to the basic outline of what happened in Salem, this is pretty good; for true historians though, especially those writing or who have written theses and done academic research on this subject, it does leave a bit to be desired.
• 
  Taylor Lindemann

  DNF
  Stopped somewhere in the Revolutionary War section and came to look at reviews because I was so confused as to why this book suddenly stopped being about the Salem Witch Trials. Turns out, I’m not the only one confused. This book gives a brief history of the Salem Witch Trials at a head-spinning pace before turning to a completely different topic of the Revolutionary War.