Salem Story: Reading the Witch Trials of 1692 (Cambridge Studies in American Literature and Culture) [Paperback]

Bernard Rosenthal (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521558204 | ISBN-13: 978-0521558204 | Publication Date: September 29, 1995

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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"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 strong story of the trials which contrasts the primary documents themselves with the myths surrounding the Salem events....Rosenthal provides a refreshingly different approach." Reviewer's Bookwatch

"The gender-related issues are especially striking...The author's reflections on Salem's continuing symbolic resonance, make Salem Story thoroughly rewarding." PA, Times Literary Supplement

"No doubt Rosenthal knows that myths must go on despite his laborious efforts to expose them. Still, for those interested in the trials themselves, he has performed a valuable service by sifting the evidence and telling not only the single Salem story but also the many and varied stories of the main participants. In addition, he has offered a compelling explanation for how a society fashions and cultivates--and needs--its myths." Kenneth P. Minkema, New England Quarterly

"...should be essential reading for anyone working on the trials, and I can think of no better starting place for students of the field....A true legal thriller, Salem Story is also that rare academic work with the capacity to reach a wider popular readership." Anne G. Myles, American Literature

"In Salem Story, Bernard Rosenthal, Professor of English at the State University of New York at Binghamton, provides a useful and methodologically somewhat different approach to the story of the Salem witch trials." Bryan Le Beau, American Studies

"...a carefully and clearly written account....[By his] close reading of the record and its subsequent historiography Rosenthal dismantles many...assumptions (for example, adolescent female hysteria, Tituba's 'wild and strange superstitions' or the Christian martyr-figure, Rebecca Nourse) and substitutes a minimalist account of the proceedings, but one that is much more consistent with the available evidence and the applicability of theory to it....Rosenthal pays close and shrewd attention to the law as well as to theology and popular belief. The book is an instantly standard item in--and guide through--both the scholarly and popular history of the Salem trials." Choice

Book Description

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.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (September 29, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521558204
• ISBN-13: 978-0521558204
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #653,526 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A cogent,fresh, and essentialstudy of the original materials, December 14, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: Salem Story: Reading the Witch Trials of 1692 (Cambridge Studies in American Literature and Culture) (Paperback)

This is an original piece of scholarship that for the first time corrects numerous errors in both the popular and scholarly traditions about what went on in Salem in 1692. Rosenthal makes judgments while giving us enough of the historical record to allow us to assess the wisdom of these judgments. Future studies will have to take account of this compelling work.

--Norman T. Burns

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Lots of facts; just add water., March 10, 2001

By 

David Marshall - See all my reviews

This review is from: Salem Story: Reading the Witch Trials of 1692 (Cambridge Studies in American Literature and Culture) (Paperback)

I can't believe I more-or-less read this whole book in a single day. It's not, in the ordinary sense, a page-turner. You would expect an English prof to makes things more interesting than this, but in fact the book is often stilted, repetitive, and a bit pompous, not to mention dry. The author gives you little feel for place or time, or even demographic detail. (How many people lived in these towns he's talking about?) And all his references to the Bible seemed very ignorant. One of the odd things about the Salem trial to me, as a Christian, is that there are no strong parallels to these events in the Bible itself. Another interesting paradox, that the author does bring up, is that the pastors in Salem were mostly against the trials. I was hoping to learn fomr about where the Puritans got their ideas about the devil in the first place, and how they reconciled those ideas with the Bible, but no such information was forthcoming here.

Still, if you want to sort out facts in regard to what happened in Salem, and why, this is a very useful resource. The book is thoughtful, somewhat perceptive, and thoroughly researched. (In terms of American history.) In a book I wrote last year, Jesus and the Religions of Man, I included an appendix, "Crusades, Inquisitions, Pograms, and Witch Hunts," relying on another source for the pages on the Salem witch trials. I now discover, thanks to Professor Rosenthal, that I made a mistake or two (nothing vital) by not having read this book first. This is not such a bad book as some of the reviewers below make out; if you skip a bit, it can be valuable and somewhat interesting. But don't mistake it for a Stephen King novel.

5.0 out of 5 stars Eye-opening read, November 12, 2010

By 

Etienne B. "world literature fanatic" (wandering the world) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Salem Story: Reading the Witch Trials of 1692 (Cambridge Studies in American Literature and Culture) (Paperback)

Although I grew up less than an hour from Salem (and took the obligatory school trips there as a kid), I really knew very little about the witch trials until I stumbled upon Bernard Rosenthal's Salem Story. The author's extensive research and enjoyable narrative made for an excellent read. Simply put, I learned a lot and I'm glad I read the book.