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Malcolm Gaskill

マルコム・ジョン・ガスキル

Malcolm John Gaskill

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1967-04-22 （Suffolk, England）
Nationality
British
Languages
English
Residence History
Suffolk (birthplace) → Kent (grew up) → Cambridge (studies and affiliation) → Norwich (University of East Anglia) → Dublin (temporary stay due to spouse's employment)

Career

Occupations
Historian, Academic, Writer
Active Years
1993-
Affiliations
Keele University, Queen's University Belfast, Anglia Ruskin University, Churchill College, Cambridge, University of East Anglia
Memberships
Fellow of the Royal Historical Society
Influenced By
Keith Wrightson

Education

Rainham Mark Grammar School
Country: United Kingdom
Robinson College, Cambridge
History
Degree: BA
Country: United Kingdom
Undergraduate reading History
Jesus College, Cambridge
History
Degree: PhD
Year of Graduation: 1994
Country: United Kingdom
PhD thesis: 'Attitudes to crime in early modern England: with special reference to witchcraft, coining and murder'

Awards

Fellow of the Royal Historical Society
Organization: Royal Historical Society
Result: Fellow
Wolfson History Prize (shortlist)
2022
Work: The Ruin of All Witches: Life and Death in the New World
Organization: Wolfson Foundation
Result: shortlisted
Visiting Fellowship (British Library, North American Studies)
2010
Organization: British Library
Result: Visiting fellow

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Crime and Mentalities in Early Modern England

2000 History (legal history, history of mentalities)

A scholarly analysis of attitudes to crime, community responses, and legal mentalities in early modern England.

crime historyhistory of mentalitieslaw and society

Hellish Nell: Last of Britain's Witches

2001 History (biographical study)

A biographical study centred on a woman known as 'Hellish Nell', exploring witchcraft and its social contexts in early modern Britain.

witchcraftlocal historygender

The Matthew Hopkins Trials (ed.)

2003 Edited volume, History

An edited collection of trial documents and commentary relating to Matthew Hopkins.

witch trialssource editing

Witchfinders: A Seventeenth-Century English Tragedy

2006 History (social and cultural history)

A detailed study of the 1645–1647 witch-hunts in East Anglia, examining causes and consequences.

witch-huntssocial upheavalcommunity dynamics

Witchcraft: A Very Short Introduction

2010 Introductory book (History)

A concise introduction to the history and cultural meanings of witchcraft.

history of witchcraftcultural history

Between Two Worlds: How the English Became Americans

2013 History (migration, colonial)

Explores how English settlers in North America transformed identities and became 'Americans'.

colonial historymigrationidentity formation

The Ruin of All Witches: Life and Death in the New World

2021 History (microhistory)

A microhistory of a real witch-hunt in Springfield, Massachusetts, illuminating fear and social context in 17th-century New England. Shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize.

witch-huntscolonial societyfear and imagination

The Glass Mountain: Escape and Discovery in Wartime Italy

2025 History (family history, wartime memory)

Based on the author's great-uncle's POW experiences and escapes, this work blends family history with wartime memory and discovery.

war and memoryfamily historyescape and survival

Bibliography

  • Hellish Nell: Last of Britain's Witches
  • The Matthew Hopkins Trials (ed.)
  • Crime and Mentalities in Early Modern England
  • Witchfinders: A Seventeenth-Century English Tragedy
  • Witchcraft: A Very Short Introduction
  • Between Two Worlds: How the English Became Americans
  • The Ruin of All Witches: Life and Death in the New World
  • The Glass Mountain: Escape and Discovery in Wartime Italy

Style & Themes

Literary Style
narrative microhistoryscholarly yet accessible prosestrong emphasis on archival detail
Recurring Motifs
witch-hunts and the supernaturalcrime and mentalitiescommunity fear and memorypersonal and family history (in recent work)

Legacy

A historian noted for work on witchcraft, crime, and mentalities in early modern Britain and North America. Gaskill bridges academic research and accessible writing, producing archival-based microhistories. His book 'The Ruin of All Witches' received wide attention and was shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize.

Academic Societies

  • Royal Historical Society

In Popular Culture

  • Appearance on BBC Radio 4's In Our Time (2004)
  • Appearances in interviews and explanatory videos on YouTube

Quotes

  • “a riveting history of life in a 17th-century New England frontier town”
    Source: The New York Times (book review) (2022)
  • “universities were already 'far from the sunlit uplands' and seemed about to 'descend into a dark tunnel'.”
    Source: London Review of Books (essay) (2020)
  • “a testament to the power of dogged research and to those twists and turns of memory which, however unstable, illuminate and inform the present.”
    Source: The Spectator (book review) (2025)

Trivia

  • Born 22 April 1967 (Suffolk; grew up in Kent)
  • PhD (University of Cambridge), 1994 — thesis on crime and witchcraft in early modern England
  • Professor at the University of East Anglia (appointed 2011); retired from teaching in 2020 to focus on writing
  • The Ruin of All Witches was shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize in 2022
  • Visiting fellow at the British Library (North American studies), 2010