fearful spirits

What's on my desk at the moment? I'm looking forward to delving into Michael Bailey's new book: Fearful Spirits, Reasoned Follies: The Boundaries of Superstition in Late Medieval Europe, recently published by Cornell Press. According to the book description, "Bailey shows ... authorities were far more sophisticated in their reasoning than one might suspect, using accusations of superstition in a calculated way to control the boundaries of legitimate religion and acceptable science." The contested boundaries of legitimate religion and acceptable science are of express interest to me, and this promises to be a nuanced exploration of this transitional period in European History.