A Land Possessed by Demons: Witches, Healers, and Ghosts of the Past in Postwar Germany / Monica Black; Translated from English — Moscow: Alpina Non-Fiction, 2024. — 354 pages. ISBN 978-5-00139-344-3 This book is unique. American professor Monica Black not only addresses the postwar period in Germany but examines tragic chapters of the past through the lens of the rise of witchcraft, folk healing, and increased interest in secret symbols and omens, providing quite a rational explanation for all these phenomena. As a historian, Monica Black traces the origins of events back to long past times, discovering, for example, the tendency of German lands' inhabitants toward witchcraft practices as early as the Middle Ages. Later, this tendency would result in the development of occult sciences in the Third Reich. Germans' attraction to magical rituals and healers of all kinds after World War II seems quite logical in this context. Mass casualties, the collapse of the state, collective guilt—these all pushed the citizens of the newly formed Federal Republic of Germany to seek support in the irrational sphere. The book is full of examples connected to specific fates; the narrative is easy to perceive and captivates no less than any mystical thriller. UDC 29(430)"1945/59"+94(430)"1945/59" BBK 63.3(4Ger)6-453+86.4(4Ger)