W&L History Professor Authors New Book and Appears in WIRED Online Video Mikki Brock wrote her second book and recently answered questions on her specialty – witches, witchcraft and witch hunts.

By Brian Laubscher
November 8, 2024

Mikki Brock, professor of history at Washington and Lee University, has authored her second book, titled “Plagues of the heart: Crisis and covenanting in a seventeenth-century Scottish town.” Brock also recently appeared in a video posted on WIRED.

Brock’s book, published last month by the Manchester University Press, explores the formation, practice and performance of Scottish protestant identity amid a series of interlocking crises of the 17th century. To this group, the plagues, war, witchcraft, invasion and rebellion they endured were unmistakable signs of God’s anger and threats to the gains of the Reformation.

“The guiding contention of this book is that early modern Scottish piety extended beyond the rituals of sermon-going, covenant-swearing, discipline and prayer,” said Brock. “Instead, it was fashioned through individual and collective responses to extraordinary challenges such as pestilence and conquest, alongside more predictable problems like sin and encounters with strangers.”

Brock used the southwestern port city of Ayr as her case study.

“This book argues that under the stewardship of a generation of radical clergy, Scotland developed a distinct and durable ‘culture of covenanting,’” she said. “This culture was created not simply by swearing the National Covenant of 1638 and the Solemn League and Covenant of 1643, but through reimagining the post-Reformation program of discipline and worship around strict interpretations of those covenants. Drawing on a wide range of archival material and employing a micro-historical approach, ‘Plagues of the heart’ provides a new understanding of religion and identity not only in 17th-century Scotland, but in protestant communities across the early modern world grappling with a range of interrelated crises.”

Brock authored a majority of the book during the COVID-19 pandemic and amid political upheaval and polarization. She admits that the book’s themes of crisis and community were extremely present while she was writing it.

“In grappling with these crises, I felt deeply grateful for my community, in particular my colleagues and students at W&L,” she said.

Brock also recently served as an expert for a WIRED online video on the topic of witches, witchcraft and witch hunting throughout the ages. The popular Q&A segment features experts answering questions on a variety of topics. A noted scholar on witchcraft and demonology, Brock answered a wide range of questions throughout the nearly 40-minute-long video.

“It was a wonderful opportunity to chat about a fascinating and often misunderstood subject that holds surprising relevance for today,” said Brock. “The early modern witch hunts were a serious and complicated tragedy in which many innocent people, mostly women, lost their lives. But I think it’s useful to talk about these heavy subjects with humor and passion to invite people in to learn more.”

Brock is currently on sabbatical and is serving a fellowship at Wellesley College’s Suzy Newhouse Center for the Humanities during the 2024-2025 academic year. A scholar of early modern Scotland, she also authored the book “Satan and the Scots: The Devil in Post-Reformation Scotland, c. 1560-1700,” and served as a co-editor of “Knowing Demons, Knowing Spirits in the Early Modern Period” and the forthcoming book “The Routledge History of the Devil in the Western Tradition.”

Brock, who also serves as a core faculty member in the Medieval and Renaissance Studies Program and as an affiliate faculty member in the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program, has taught at W&L since 2014. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in humanities and western civilization from the University of Kansas as well as a Master of Arts and Ph.D. in history from the University of Texas at Austin.

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