The colony of Massachusetts in 1692 was a harsh place. Disease, hunger, and the threat of war made life stressful. Colonists clung to their religious faith and looked for someone to blame. Some accused their fellow colonists of causing the troubles through the practice of witchcraft. The hysteria spread until no one was safe. Will you: Attempt to defend yourself against charges of witchcraft? Try to keep your family together as your mother is put on trial? Accuse someone else of being a witch?
Vivid storytelling and authentic dialogue bring American history to life and place readers in the shoes of people who experienced one of the most notorious moments in American history - the Salem Witch Trials. In the spring of 1692, girls in Salem, Massachusetts, accused several local women of witchcraft. The events that followed were marked by mass hysteria and religious extremism and ultimately led to trials, convictions, executions, and many more accusals. Suspenseful, dramatic events unfold in chronological, interwoven stories from the different perspectives of people who experienced the event while it was happening. Narratives intertwine to create a breathless, "What's Next?" kind of read. Students gain a new perspective on historical figures as they learn about real people struggling to decide how best to act in a given moment.
The Salem Witch Trials is based on over twenty-five years of archival research--including the author's discovery of previously unknown documents--newly found cases and court records. From January 1692 to January 1697 this history unfolds a nearly day-by-day narrative of the crisis as the citizens of New England experienced it.
Mass hysteria in the late 17th century led to trials of people suspected to be witches in Salem, Massachusetts. Anyone could be accused of causing mysterious maladies or unfortunate occurrences, such as the death of cattle. Readers discover important facts and captivating details about this fascinating time in American history. The dangers of leveling accusations without proof and succumbing to panic are discussed in this engaging text, which is supplemented with a fact-filled timeline, full-color photographs, and primary sources.
Discusses the witchcraft trials in Salem in 1692, the events leading up to them, and how the trials have been viewed by different historians since then.
Providing an accessible and comprehensive overview, The Story of the Salem Witch Trials explores the events between June 10 and September 22, 1692, when nineteen people were hanged, one was pressed to death and over 150 were jailed for practicing witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts. This book explores the history of that event and provides a synthesis of the most recent scholarship on the subject. It 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. Now in a third edition, this book has been updated to include an expanded section on the European origins of witch-hunts, an updated and expanded epilogue (which discusses the witch-hunts, real and imagined, historical and cultural, since 1692), and an extensive bibliography. This complex and difficult subject is covered 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, Bryan Le Beau maintains a broad perspective on the events and, wherever possible, lets the historical characters speak for themselves. Le Beau 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. This third edition of The Story of the Salem Witch Trials is essential for students and scholars alike who are interested in women’s and gender history, colonial American history, and early modern history.
The story of the Salem Witch Trials told through the lives of six women Six Women of Salem is the first work to use the lives of a select number of representative women as a microcosm to illuminate the larger crisis of the Salem witch trials. By the end of the trials, beyond the twenty who were executed and the five who perished in prison, 207 individuals had been accused, 74 had been "afflicted," 32 had officially accused their fellow neighbors, and 255 ordinary people had been inexorably drawn into that ruinous and murderous vortex, and this doesn't include the religious, judicial, and governmental leaders. All this adds up to what the Rev. Cotton Mather called "a desolation of names." The individuals involved are too often reduced to stock characters and stereotypes when accuracy is sacrificed to indignation. And although the flood of names and detail in the history of an extraordinary event like the Salem witch trials can swamp the individual lives involved, individuals still deserve to be remembered and, in remembering specific lives, modern readers can benefit from such historical intimacy. By examining the lives of six specific women, Marilynne Roach shows readers what it was like to be present throughout this horrific time and how it was impossible to live through it unchanged.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Cleopatra, the #1 national bestseller, unpacks the mystery of the Salem Witch Trials. It began in 1692, over an exceptionally raw Massachusetts winter, when a minister's daughter began to scream and convulse. It ended less than a year later, but not before 19 men and women had been hanged and an elderly man crushed to death. The panic spread quickly, involving the most educated men and prominent politicians in the colony. Neighbors accused neighbors, parents and children each other. Aside from suffrage, the Salem Witch Trials represent the only moment when women played the central role in American history. In curious ways, the trials would shape the future republic. As psychologically thrilling as it is historically seminal, The Witches is Stacy Schiff's account of this fantastical story -- the first great American mystery unveiled fully for the first time by one of our most acclaimed historians.
For use in schools and libraries only. So you think your friends and family will stick by you through thick and thin? Then you wouldn't want to be accused of practicing witchcraft in 17th-century Salem--where practically everyone you know would send you to prison or even Gallows Hill, just to save themselves.
