Satan and Salem
eBook - ePub

Satan and Salem

The Witch-Hunt Crisis of 1692

  1. 264 pages
  2. English
  3. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

Satan and Salem

The Witch-Hunt Crisis of 1692

About this book

The result of a perfect storm of factors that culminated in a great moral catastrophe, the Salem witch trials of 1692 took a breathtaking toll on the young English colony of Massachusetts. Over 150 people were imprisoned, and nineteen men and women, including a minister, were executed by hanging. The colonial government, which was responsible for initiating the trials, eventually repudiated the entire affair as a great "delusion of the Devil."

In Satan and Salem, Benjamin Ray looks beyond single-factor interpretations to offer a far more nuanced view of why the Salem witch-hunt spiraled out of control. Rather than assigning blame to a single perpetrator, Ray assembles portraits of several major characters, each of whom had complex motives for accusing his or her neighbors. In this way, he reveals how religious, social, political, and legal factors all played a role in the drama. Ray's historical database of court records, documents, and maps yields a unique analysis of the geographic spread of accusations and trials, ultimately showing how the witch-hunt resulted in the execution of so many people—far more than any comparable episode on this side of the Atlantic.

In addition to the print volume, Satan and Salem will also be available as a linked e-book offering the reader the opportunity to investigate firsthand the primary sources and maps on which Ray's groundbreaking argument rests.

Learn more at satanandsalem.org.

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Yes, you can access Satan and Salem by Benjamin C. Ray in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in History & Early American History. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Contents
  2. Acknowledgments
  3. Introduction: Stains upon Our Land
  4. 1. Samuel Parris and the New Covenant
  5. 2. Tituba’s Confession
  6. 3. The Village Girls Who Cried “Witch!”
  7. 4. The Magistrates
  8. 5. Reports of Witches’ Meetings
  9. 6. Thomas Putnam
  10. 7. Andover
  11. 8. Confessions
  12. 9. The Apparition and Trial of George Burroughs
  13. 10. Samuel Parris, “the Beginner and Procurer”
  14. 11. Blame and Shame
  15. 12. Mapping the Salem Witch Trials
  16. 13. Indians, Africans, Gender, and the “Black Man”
  17. A Note on Court Records, Dates, and Names
  18. Notes
  19. Bibliography
  20. Index