G. Rowlands, The dynastic state and the army under Louis XIV: royal service and private interest, 1661–1701. (Cambridge University Press, 2002.) Pages xxi+404. £45.00

[...]when discussing National Parks and related post-war developments, the author is more concerned with Wales and northern and south-western England. Several researchers have investigated the idea of men as witches, but frequently dispelled men as a secondary target group. Besides the fact that men were a distinct minority among those accused of witchcraft, historians, according to the authors of this book, have also maintained the following about men and the witch trials: (1) they were closely related (via family ties) to female witches and suered repercussions because of this; (2) male witches appeared during periods of witch hysteria (chain-reaction trials and mass executions) when the stereotypical female witch was dispelled; (3) men committed only minor acts of witchcraft, and were not accused of diabolism; (4) men as witches appeared in regions where witchcraft was treated more as heresy than malicious witchcraft (malecium); (5) and men were accused of other things than the female witches. [...]we can say that the book demonstrates the close connection between witchcraft and certain kinds of indecent female traits. Instead Rose demonstrates that membership in the nation was contingent on a constantly renegotiated set of criteria. [...]for a woman to be a good citizen required not only being a good mother and serving the nation as, say, a factory worker but also maintaining a particular kind of sexualized identity in order to keep up the morale of British men.