The Story of the Salem Witch Trials: "we Walked in Clouds and Could Not See Our Way"Between June 10 and September 22, 1692, nineteen people were hanged for practicing witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts. One person was pressed to death, and over 150 others were jailed, where still others died and many remained for several months. The Story of the Salem Witch Trials is a history of that event. It provides a much needed synthesis of the most recent scholarship on the subject, places the trials into the context of the Great European Witch-Hunt, and relates the events of 1692 to witch-hunting throughout seventeenth-century New England. The author covers this complex and difficult subject in a uniquely accessible manner that captures all the drama that surrounded the Salem witch trials. From beginning to end, the reader is carried along by the author's powerful narration and mastery of the subject. While covering the subject in impressive detail, he maintains a broad perspective on events, and, wherever possible, he lets the historical characters speak for themselves. He highlights the decisions made by individuals responsible for the trials that helped turn what might have been a minor event into a crisis that has held the imagination of students of American history for over three centuries. |
Contents
The Development of European | 4 |
A Summary View of Witchhunts | 18 |
HAVING FAMILIARITY WITH THE DEVIL | 24 |
Copyright | |
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Abigail Williams accused afflicted Andover Ann Putnam asked believed Boston Boyer and Nissenbaum Boyer and Stephen Bridget Bishop century charged church Cloyce Colonial condemned confessed continued convicted Corey's Corwin Cotton Mather Court of Oyer Crisis death Demos Devil in Massachusetts Devil's Dominion diabolical Elizabeth Proctor Entertaining Satan European Witch-hunt execution explained fear George Burroughs Giles Corey girls God's Godbeer Governor guilty Hathorne Hobbs Increase Mather innocent jail judges jury Lawson Levack magistrates Martha Corey Mary Easty Mary Warren meetinghouse ministers neighbors Oyer and Terminer Parris's Paul Boyer perhaps person Philip English Phips prison Puritan Rebecca Nurse records reported response Reverend Robert Calef Salem Possessed Salem town Salem village Salem witch trials Salem Witchcraft Papers Samuel Parris Sarah sermon seventeenth-century New England Sewall specter spectral evidence Starkey Stephen Nissenbaum Stoughton testified testimony tion Tituba told University Press Upham whereupon wife Witch-Hunting Witch-Hunting in Seventeenth-Century women wrote York