Salem Story engages the story of the Salem witch trials by contrasting an analysis of the surviving primary documentation with the way the events of 1692 have been mythologized by our culture. Resisting the temptation to explain the Salem witch trials in the context of an inclusive theoretical framework, the book examines a variety of individual motives that converged to precipitate the witchhunt.

Salem Story also examines subsequent mythologizations, such as the scapegoating of the slave Tituba, the sexualizing and age stereotyping of "witches" in popular culture, and attempts to force interpretations of the witch-hunt into paradigms of future generations.

Of the many assumptions about the Salem witch trials, the most persistent is that they were instigated by a circle of hysterical girls. Through an analysis of what actually happened - by perusal of the primary materials with the "close reading" approach of a literary critic - a different picture emerges, one where "hysteria" inappropriately describes the logical, rational strategies of accusation and confession followed by the accusers, males and females alike.