The Devil in Massachusetts

The Devil in Massachusetts PDF Author: Marion L. Starkey
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
ISBN: 1789125626
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 436

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Book Description
This dramatic and deeply moving book combines a narrative that has the pace and excitement of a novel, a timeless portrait of bigotry and a self-righteousness, and an authentic history of the Salem witch trials. It stands alone in applying modern psychiatric knowledge to the witchcraft hysteria. Nearly three hundred years ago the fate of Massachusetts was delivered into the hands of a pack of young girls. Because of the fantasies and hysterical antics of unbalanced teenagers, decent men and women were sent to the gallows. Medical science that day had no better explanation than “the evil eye”; and so Massachusetts was precipitated into a reign of terror that did not end until the highest in the land had been accused of witchcraft—ministers, a judge, the Governor’s lady. One by one were brought to the gallows such diverse personalities as a decent grandmother; a rakish, pipe-smoking female tramp; a plain farmer who thought only to save his wife from molestation; a lame old man whose toothless gums did not deny expression to a very salty vocabulary. But from the very beginning some fought the hysteria, pitting sanity against insanity, and eventually forced the community to atone for its tragic error. Written with sly humor, much of the book reads like a novel. In the end, one is pretty sure what was wrong with Cotton Mather, the august judges, and the tormented young girls. “The Devil in Massachusetts is a vivid and compassionate reconstruction of the Salem witchcraft hysteria. Marion Starkey has written history which illustrates the past and at the same time packs and important contemporary moral.”—Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. “It is certainly a ‘one sitting’ sort of book, with the dramatic appeal of the well-told story and the significances of good human history.”—Gerald Warner Brace “A fresh and full narration...of one of the most lurid, pitiful and deeply significant episodes in American history....”—Odell Shepard

The Devil in Massachusetts

The Devil in Massachusetts PDF Author: Marion L. Starkey
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
ISBN: 1789125626
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 436

Get Book Here

Book Description
This dramatic and deeply moving book combines a narrative that has the pace and excitement of a novel, a timeless portrait of bigotry and a self-righteousness, and an authentic history of the Salem witch trials. It stands alone in applying modern psychiatric knowledge to the witchcraft hysteria. Nearly three hundred years ago the fate of Massachusetts was delivered into the hands of a pack of young girls. Because of the fantasies and hysterical antics of unbalanced teenagers, decent men and women were sent to the gallows. Medical science that day had no better explanation than “the evil eye”; and so Massachusetts was precipitated into a reign of terror that did not end until the highest in the land had been accused of witchcraft—ministers, a judge, the Governor’s lady. One by one were brought to the gallows such diverse personalities as a decent grandmother; a rakish, pipe-smoking female tramp; a plain farmer who thought only to save his wife from molestation; a lame old man whose toothless gums did not deny expression to a very salty vocabulary. But from the very beginning some fought the hysteria, pitting sanity against insanity, and eventually forced the community to atone for its tragic error. Written with sly humor, much of the book reads like a novel. In the end, one is pretty sure what was wrong with Cotton Mather, the august judges, and the tormented young girls. “The Devil in Massachusetts is a vivid and compassionate reconstruction of the Salem witchcraft hysteria. Marion Starkey has written history which illustrates the past and at the same time packs and important contemporary moral.”—Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. “It is certainly a ‘one sitting’ sort of book, with the dramatic appeal of the well-told story and the significances of good human history.”—Gerald Warner Brace “A fresh and full narration...of one of the most lurid, pitiful and deeply significant episodes in American history....”—Odell Shepard

In the Devil's Snare

In the Devil's Snare PDF Author: Mary Beth Norton
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 030742636X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 450

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Book Description
Award-winning historian Mary Beth Norton reexamines the Salem witch trials in this startlingly original, meticulously researched, and utterly riveting study. In 1692 the people of Massachusetts were living in fear, and not solely of satanic afflictions. Horrifyingly violent Indian attacks had all but emptied the northern frontier of settlers, and many traumatized refugees—including the main accusers of witches—had fled to communities like Salem. Meanwhile the colony’s leaders, defensive about their own failure to protect the frontier, pondered how God’s people could be suffering at the hands of savages. Struck by the similarities between what the refugees had witnessed and what the witchcraft “victims” described, many were quick to see a vast conspiracy of the Devil (in league with the French and the Indians) threatening New England on all sides. By providing this essential context to the famous events, and by casting her net well beyond the borders of Salem itself, Norton sheds new light on one of the most perplexing and fascinating periods in our history.

Salem Witch Trials

Salem Witch Trials PDF Author: Anna Revell
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781973349358
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 113

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Book Description
SALEM WITCH TRIALS: The True Story Behind The Infamous Witch Trials of 1692The belief in the supernatural, and its ability to harm an individual, had emerged in Europe in the 14th century. This sparked a series of witch trials across the continent. By the mid 17th century this trend was gradually dying out across much of Europe. However accusations of witchcraft, and the hysteria which accompanies such a case, would sporadically occur in some places such as the American Colonies up until the early 18th century. The most prominent example of this was the Salem Witch Trials, these occurred in Salem, New England between 1692 and 1693. This is the story of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, and the horrors surrounding this most famous of historical witch trials.

The Wonders of the Invisible World

The Wonders of the Invisible World PDF Author: Cotton Mather
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Crime
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description


Switching Sides

Switching Sides PDF Author: Tony Fels
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 1421424371
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 281

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Book Description
Starkey's devil in Massachusetts and the Post-World War II consensus -- Boyer and Nissenbaum's Salem possessed and the anti-capitalist critique -- An aside: investigations into the practice of actual witchcraft in seventeenth-century New England -- Demos's entertaining satan and the functionalist perspective -- Karlsen's devil in the shape of a woman and feminist interpretations -- Norton's in the devil's snare and racial approaches, I -- Norton's in the devil's snare and racial approaches, II

The Devil on Trial

The Devil on Trial PDF Author: Phillip Margulies
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 9780618717170
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
Featuring five famous trials, this book examines the way our right to a fair trial can be threatened, when people are tempted to abandon their principles in the name of safety. Trials included are the Salem Witch Trials, the Haymarket Affair Trial, the Scopes "Monkey" Trial, the trial of Alger Hiss, and the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui--the latter not yet covered extensively in any book.

The Devil in the Shape of a Woman: Witchcraft in Colonial New England

The Devil in the Shape of a Woman: Witchcraft in Colonial New England PDF Author: Carol F. Karlsen
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393347192
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 393

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Book Description
"A pioneer work in…the sexual structuring of society. This is not just another book about witchcraft." —Edmund S. Morgan, Yale University Confessing to "familiarity with the devils," Mary Johnson, a servant, was executed by Connecticut officials in 1648. A wealthy Boston widow, Ann Hibbens was hanged in 1656 for casting spells on her neighbors. The case of Ann Cole, who was "taken with very strange Fits," fueled an outbreak of witchcraft accusations in Hartford a generation before the notorious events at Salem. More than three hundred years later, the question "Why?" still haunts us. Why were these and other women likely witches—vulnerable to accusations of witchcraft and possession? Carol F. Karlsen reveals the social construction of witchcraft in seventeenth-century New England and illuminates the larger contours of gender relations in that society.

The Devil of Great Island

The Devil of Great Island PDF Author: Emerson W. Baker
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 0230606830
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 221

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Book Description
In 1682, ten years before the infamous Salem witch trials, the town of Great Island, New Hampshire, was plagued by mysterious events: strange, demonic noises; unexplainable movement of objects; and hundreds of stones that rained upon a local tavern and appeared at random inside its walls. Town residents blamed what they called "Lithobolia" or "the stone-throwing devil." In this lively account, Emerson Baker shows how witchcraft hysteria overtook one town and spawned copycat incidents elsewhere in New England, prefiguring the horrors of Salem. In the process, he illuminates a cross-section of colonial society and overturns many popular assumptions about witchcraft in the seventeenth century.

Satan and Salem

Satan and Salem PDF Author: Benjamin C. Ray
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780813937076
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
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.

The Devil in Salem Village

The Devil in Salem Village PDF Author: Laurel Van der Linde
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781562941444
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 72

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Book Description
Describes the panic that swept through colonial Salem, Massachusetts, when the people were convinced that witches were among them and outlines the factors leading up to this episode.