Critical Praise

“WITCHES OF AMERICA is brave and sharp and tenaciously researched. I would never have described myself as someone ‘interested in witchcraft’ --- Alex Mar’s book left me feeling the fault had been mine.” 

—John Jeremiah Sullivan, author of PULPHEAD

“Written with a beguiling blend of heart and wit, WITCHES OF AMERICA sustains its thrall with something that runs much deeper than intrigue or pageantry. With the depth and scope of her curiosity, Alex Mar compelled me to follow her driving questions --- about meaning, faith, and longing for community and wonder --- on a breathless, deepening and constantly surprising quest.”

—Leslie Jamison, author of THE EMPATHY EXAMS

“Like the best immersive subcultural reporting, WITCHES OF AMERICA has its proper share of erotic charge (daggers, velvet, ritual nudity) and comic flair (a neurotic New Yorker meets an inedible Black Mass wafer). But what Alex Mar has actually achieved is something altogether more haunting. This is an intellectually serious and sweetly vulnerable work about connection both on and off the grid, and our common aspiration to lead lives spellbound and spellbinding.”

—Gideon Lewis-Kraus, author of A SENSE OF DIRECTION

“WITCHES OF AMERICA could be seen as a Gulliverian journey through various oddball sects scattered from California to New England, all of which believe in salvation through Magic --- but the book is so much more than that. This is a quest to come to terms with the Unknowable.”

—Richard Price, author of LUSH LIFE

“Whatever you thought about witches, be prepared to think again. In WITCHES OF AMERICA, Alex Mar exposes what we fear most --- our own power. To be a witch is to reimagine the world.” 

—Terry Tempest Williams, author of WHEN WOMEN WERE BIRDS