Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft

One of the great things about not being the first reviewer of a book, is that you can feel free to limit yourself to a discussion of what you felt was important about the book to your own point of view, since most of the other reviewers will have covered some of the more general issues about the book.Like the lead reviewer, I do not buy into the authors' sociological conclusions regarding the origins of the Salem Witch trials. But that does not mean this is not a very valuable book for those who study this subject. Since it does end with a socio-economic explanation of events, it marshalls and displays an impressive amount of evidence regarding the state of Salem Village at the time of the outbreak. You are unlikely to find this information elsewhere, and it is just as likely to support an alternative explanation as the one to which the authors lead you.For example, early in the book, the authors make the connection between the events in Salem and the events, 42 years later, a few dozen miles to the west, in Northampton, Massachusetts, during what was called the First or "Little" Great Awakening in the parish of Jonathan Edwards. This was the source for my alternate theory of the events in Salem. This means that one should read this book with an open heart, get what ideas are good, and criticize the ideas which may be too much of a stretch.If the authors attend too much to any one point, it seems to be the motives of certain individuals. My reading of the events is that it was an incident fuelled not by the evil or ignorance of one person, like Thomas de' Torquemada's role in the Spanish Inquisition, but in the sense of the times, fed by the way in which the incident was sparked by the Amerindian slave Tituba and her vision of many witches signing the Devil's book.

The book is totally absorbing, a well-written account of a polarized period in history. It's too easy to dismiss such times as crazy aberrations, but seeing all the factors that influence people's behavior allows us to learn from the past. I read this to understand some family genealogy, and it filled the bill. However, the story is worth reading for anyone interested in history, New England, how distrust grows and how healing takes place. Excellent!

Came in perfect condition and the book had useful information for an essay on the Salem witch trials !

I needed this book for my capstone paper. My topic was figuring out if Parris sparked the trials to secure his place in the community. This book was perfect since it explores the social problems and situations of Salem to help explain the trials. The book reads very easily and is just all together interesting, even as just a fun read.

As someone whose family history traces back to Salem Village and Bray Wilkins, I genuinely appreciate the effort it took to dig into the excruciating details of this disturbing period in history. Your book included such a detailed account that it brought the people involved "to life" in a way and made me feel as though I just might be able to understand what would go down in history as one of the most appalling social condemnations of our fellow men of all time.

This nonfiction book filled in a whole chapter in my family history. Nicely well written.

If you intend to study the Salem incident in any serious amounts this should be your starting point. It gives an excellent amount of insight and information. Among colonial american historians, this is a staple.

Good as far as it goes.

The book is very interesting, but the cover seems to be badly stained with something that doesn't rub off. It's really ugly and dirty looking, outrageous for something that is apparently new (!) and costs about £20. Won't be buying from this vendor again.

A well structured and researched insight into the social environment of the colony in the seventeenth century.