| Description |
viii, 279 pages ; 23 cm |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 269-273) and index. |
| Contents |
Preface : a cauldron of discontent : the pressures that drove a tranquil village to combustion -- The accusers : Elizabeth Booth, Richard Carrier, Sarah Churchill, Elizabeth Hubbard, John Indian, Mercy Lewis, Elizabeth Parris, Ann Putnam Jr., Margaret Rule, Susannah Sheldon, Mercy Short, Martha Sprague, Mary Walcott, Mary Warren, Mary Watkins, and Abigail Williams -- The victims : Bridget Bishop, George Burroughs, Martha Carrier, Giles Corey, Martha Corey, Lydia Dustin, Mary Easty, Ann Foster, Sarah Good, Elizabeth Howe, George Jacobs Jr., Susannah Martin, Rebecca Nurse, Sarah Osborne, Alice Parker, Mary Parker, John Proctor, Ann Pudeator, Wilmot Reed, Margaret Scott, Roger Toothaker, Samuel Wardwell, Sarah Wildes, and John Willard -- The clergy : Thomas Barnard, Francis Dane, John Hale, John Higginson, Deodat Lawson, Cotton Mather, Increase Mather, Joshua Moody, Nicholas Noyes, Samuel Parris, and Samuel Willard -- The judges : Jonathan Corwin, Bartholomew Gedney, John Hathorne, John Richards, Nathaniel Saltonstall, Peter Sargeant, Samuel Sewall, William Stoughton, and Wait Still Winthrop -- The elite : Simon Bradstreet, Thomas Brattle, Robert Calef, Thomas Danforth, Philip English, Sir William Phips, and Britain's King William III and Queen Mary -- Conclusion : did seventeenth-century living conditions predispose English settlers to witch hunts? |
| Summary |
This is the first book to explore the tragic personal lives of the leading players in Salem's witchcraft frenzy. Salem witchcraft will always have a magnetic pull on the American psyche. During the 1692 witch trials, more than 150 people were arrested. An estimated 25 million Americans, including the author, are descended from the twenty individuals executed. What happened to our ancestors? This book takes a look at this complex time, by examining the lives of the witch trial participants from a personal perspective. Massachusetts settlers led difficult lives; every player in the Salem drama endured hardships barely imaginable today. Mercy Short, one of the "bewitched" girls, watched as Indians butchered her parents; Puritan minister Cotton Mather outlived all but three of his fifteen children. Such tragedies shaped behavior and, as the author argues, ultimately played a part in the witch hunt's outcome. A compelling "who's who" to Salem witchcraft, this work profiles each of these historical personalities as it asks: Why was this person targeted? |
| Subject |
Witchcraft -- Massachusetts -- Salem -- Biography.
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Witchcraft -- Massachusetts -- Salem -- History.
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Trials (Witchcraft) -- Massachusetts -- Salem -- Biography.
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Trials (Witchcraft) -- Massachusetts -- Salem -- History.
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Massachusetts -- Salem.
(OCoLC)fst01205839
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Witchcraft. (OCoLC)fst01176327
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Trials (Witchcraft) (OCoLC)fst01156425
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| Genre/Form |
Biographies. (OCoLC)fst01919896
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History. (OCoLC)fst01411628
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Biographies.
|
| ISBN |
9780762759095 |
|
0762759097 |
|
9780762784974 (pbk.) |
|
0762784970 (pbk.) |
|
