"Blending history and ethnography, this book offers a long-term monographic vision of one of Papua New Guinea’s last communities to enter modernity. Contextualized in this way and coupled with a broad comparative perspective, Mitchell’s presentation of forms of 'magical' aggression among the Lujere of the Upper Sepik constitutes a masterly contribution to the anthropology of invisible attacks on persons in Papua New Guinea."

— Pierre Lemonnier, author of "Mundane Objects: Materiality and Non-verbal Communication" and co-author of "Drumming to Forget: Ordinary Life and Ceremonies among a Papua New Guinea Society of Forest Dwellers"

"A Witch’s Hand is the very stuff of good ethnography, a treasure trove of material resplendent with sensitive and honest insights. Stylishly written, with delightful vignettes complemented by analysis tied into broader issues of concern to anthropologists, it brilliantly captures the local Zeitgeist of the egalitarian Lujere people in an isolated part of New Guinea in the 1970s. A superb study of how colonialism, through its agents, slowly but surely crept into Lujere hamlets; a powerful case for why anthropologists need to take kinship seriously; and a riveting and original study breaking new ground on magic and associated beliefs, it can also be read as a unique ethnography of creating an ethnography. This is Mitchell at his creative best."

— Robert Gordon, author of "South Africa’s Dream: Ethnologists and Apartheid in Namibia", "The Bushman Myth and the Making of a Namibian Underclass", co-author of "Law and Order in the New Guinea Highlands", among many other authored and edited books.