Customer Reviews

Salem: Place, Myth, and Memory

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Having taught Salem History to children for many years I find this book fascinating. (In fact, where was this book when I needed it?)Chapter by chapter, allows the reader to actually see the development of Salem from a small colonial village to the modern day.

The details ranging from the crimes that happened in Salem during the centuries to the remaking of the place as a global city, is plotted out in such detail, that at times it reads like a novel. Pay attention to Chapter 7-detailing Hawthorne and his part in the city-as this is written with style and elegance.

This was a rare book that shifted how I view things. I found this book to be unique in its approach to looking at the city of Salem, MA and addressing its sense of place. Although I found each chapter interesting, the whole collection together really got me thinking in new ways about how I view communities and the multiple layers that make them up.

I have read many books on Salem and its history; I live almost next door to Salem; I was even born there for heaven's sake! I thought I knew everything important about this historic New England city.

And then I read this book! I learned new things about what I thought I already knew, and I found that there is much about Salem that has been largely ignored. Most people are familiar with the witchcraft hysteria, the China trade, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and the modern witch industry. But how many of us knew that many of Salem's characteristic architectural details are derived from that China trade? Or that Salem, too, was one of the New England textile towns - one of the towns that suffered from the loss of this industry? That Salem has been an immigrant city for many years, encouraging people to come to work in its mills - until those mills close! Or that Salem is currently home to a thriving Dominican population?

I found it especially helpful to look at one place - this city of Salem - from a variety of perspectives. Now that I've read Morrson's book I think I can say that I know this town pretty well!

I purchased this book as a gift for a family member who has recently relocated to Salem, MA. I did not read the book in its entirety, but I was VERY pleased to see that it addresses so many various aspects of Salem, in both historical and current times. Most other books I looked at on Salem revolved soleley around the Witch Trials, or the House of the Seven Gables, or both--this book seemed to cover data from almost all "walks of life," and because each chapter was penned or edited by a different author, there is variety in the ways that the information is presented as well.

I took Dane Morrison's graduate Historiography class 10 years ago. He taught me that one can learn more about an historian (Morrison etal) than about history (Salem) when reading history. The chapter about Salem's religious history seems to have been written by a Harvard Divinity School Pagan; half the chapter is about Laurie Cabot. The chapter about the House of Seven Gables tells us nothing of value or interest. I guess she didnt like what she read in my term paper about the House; the reason I didnt get a good grade in her Archeology class. Shultz' chapter on Hawthorne excellent. Chapter on crimes excellent (I know Mike Szczuka,sp?); I've read her fiction. Overall good. But the anti-Conservative Christian bias is a downer.