The history of cattle was an attractive subject for a lifelong city dweller interested in learning new things. Unfortunately, much if not most of the book is neither a history nor about cattle. Carlson takes a quirky, scattershot approach to her subject and is never able to focus her thoughts. Unfortunately, there apparently was no editor to bring some order to the book, or even to correct the numerous factual errors. The author is something of a mystic, and as such uncritically collects myths and regurgitates them. Cattle have a mystical significance for her, and this somehow seems to give her license to include her ill-informed musings on many unrelated subjects within the pages of the book. However, there was some useful information about cattle and the products made from them scattered through the book; hence the two star rating. If you have a high tolerance for irrelevance and are not a stickler for accuracy, the book may be worth reading.

Carlson tackles a huge topic with interesting facts and details. She argues FOR cattle in a way that makes sense for both environmentalist-minded readers as well as ranch types.

Laurie Carlson had a theory about Salem and supported it using an ambivalence for fact that you might experience gossiping with friends over a beer at Chili's. What a disappointment because it could have been interesting. Where do I start?

[1] All her research was done using books written in the 20th century. She is (sadly) unknowingly swayed by the biases of those 20th century authors. She wrongly accepts their judgements as fact, which annoyed me immensely. [2] She accepts outlandish courtroom pranks as genuine physical ailments. Why? Even by her own description, the 'fever' that was present in the colony subscribed to far more uncontrollable symptoms than repeating the words of the accused 'in chorus'. [3] She would have benefitted from reading documents from the period. Her understanding of the period is academic and lacks any genuine understanding of the events that unfolded. [4] The sentence that finally made me stop reading? "The first arrivals at Plymouth had been delighted to discover that the Indian population had already been wiped out by an epidemic... [any 3rd grader can tell you there were Indians in Plymouth]" an epidemic which she credits to the French in Nova Scotia, despite the fact that Europeans had been fishing the waters up and down the coastline for years and had even established outposts along the coast long before the puritans arrived in Plymouth. Sigh. [5] Please don't read this book.

While she has a compelling argument, one based on sensationalism, her thesis fails to illustrate why the hysteria found in Salem did not occur in other communities that were afflicted with same microbiological phenomena. This monograph makes many assumptions and more often than not her arguments seem predetermined. The amatuer reader will enjoy her writing, but academic historians will be disappointed.

This book shows that witchcraft was more complicated than social-economic-gender issues. Religion was part of it, but mostly medicine. There WAS no medical care then, how did they know what to do? Prayer was it. This author tackled a difficult topic, and opened my eyes to what witchcraft is all about.