Salem Story Reading the Witch Trials of 1692 [Paperback]

This book provides an engaging re-examination of the Salem witch trials of 1692.The most persistent assumption about the Salem witch trials remains that they were precipitated by a circle of hysterical girls. This study examines a variety of individual motives that converged to cause the witch hunt as well as the subsequent mythologies that emerged from it.The most persistent assumption about the Salem witch trials remains that they were precipitated by a circle of hysterical girls. This study examines a variety of individual motives that converged to cause the witch hunt as well as the subsequent mythologies that emerged from it.Salem Story engages the story of the Salem witch trials through an analysis of the surviving primary documentation and juxtaposes that against the way in which our culture has mythologized the events of 1692. Salem Story examines a variety of individual motives that converged to precipitate the witch hunt. The book also examines subsequent mythologies that emerged from the events of 1692. Of the many assumptions about the Salem Witch Trials, the most persistent one remains that they were precipitated by a circle of hysterical girls. Through an analysis of what actually happened, through reading the primary material, the emerging story shows a different picture, one where hysteria inappropriately describes the events and where accusing males as well as females participated in strategies of accusation and confession that followed a logical, rational pattern.1. Dark Eve; 2. The girls of Salem; 3. Boys and girls together; 4. June 10, 1692; 5. July 19, 1692; 6. August 19, 1692; 7. George Burroughs and the Mathers; 8. September 22, 1692; 9. Assessing an inextricable storm; 10. Salem story. If you own only one book about the witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts, it should be this one, and if you have others, this one should be among them. Journal of American Folklore This is no light historical overview as are so many accounts, but a stronl£Á