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In January 1692 in Salem Village, Massachusetts, two young girls began to suffer from inexplicable fits. Seventeen months later, after legal action had been taken against 144 people, 20 of them put to death, the ignominious Salem witchcraft trials finally came to an end. Mary Beth Norton gives us a unique account of the events at Salem, helping us to understand them as they were understood by those who lived through the frenzy. Describing the situation from a seventeenth-century perspective, Norton examines the crucial turning points, the accusers, the confessors, the judges, and the accused, among whom were thirty-eight men. She shows how the situation spiraled out of control following a cascade of accusations beginning in mid-April. She explores the role of gossip and delves into the question of why women and girls under the age of twenty-five, who were the most active accusers and who would normally be ignored by male magistrates, were suddenly given absolute credence. Norton moves beyond the immediate vicinity of Salem to demonstrate how the Indian wars on the Maine frontier in the last quarter of that century stunned the collective mindset of northeastern New England and convinced virtually everyone that they were in the devil's snare. And she makes clear that ultimate responsibility for allowing the crisis to reach the heights it did must fall on the colony's governor, council, and judges.
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Previews available in: English
Showing 4 featured editions. View all 4 editions?
Edition | Availability |
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1
In the Devil's Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692
October 14, 2003, Vintage
in English
0375706909 9780375706905
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2
In the Devil's Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692
September 10, 2002, Knopf
in English
037540709X 9780375407093
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3
In the devil's snare: the Salem witchcraft crisis of 1692
2002, Alfred A. Knopf
in English
- 1st ed.
037540709X 9780375407093
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eeee
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4
In the Devil's Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692
2002, Knoft
Paperback
in English
0965460975 9780965460972
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Book Details
First Sentence
"About noon, in heavy snow, when (in the words of a contemporary historian) "the Inhabitants were in their unguarded Houses, here and their scattered , Quiet and Secure." about 150 Indians led by Madockawando, a sachem of the Penobscot band of the Wabanakis, took York completely by surprise."
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"In January 1692 in Salem Village, Massachusetts, two young girls began to suffer from inexplicable fits. Seventeen months later, after legal action had been taken against 144 people - 20 of them put to death - the ignominious Salem witchcraft trials finally came to an end.".
"Now, Mary Beth Norton - one of our most admired historians - gives us a unique account of the events at Salem, helping us to understand them as they were understood by those who lived through the frenzy. Describing the situation from a seventeenth-century perspective, Norton examines the crucial turning points, the accusers, the confessors, the judges, and the accused, among whom were thirty-eight men.
She shows how the situation spiraled out of control following a cascade of accusations beginning in mid-April. She explores the role of gossip and delves into the question of why women and girls under the age of twenty-five, who were the most active accusers and who would normally be ignored by male magistrates, were suddenly given absolute credence."--BOOK JACKET.
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