Salem-Village Witchcraft: A Documentary Record of Local Conflict in Colonial New England [Paperback]

Paul Boyer (Editor), Stephen Nissenbaum (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 24, 1993

Few episodes in American history have aroused such intense and continued interest as the 1692 Salem witchcraft trials. This volume draws exclusively on primary documents to reveal the underlying conflicts and tensions that caused that small, agricultural settlement to explode with such dramatic force.

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Northeastern (September 24, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1555531652
• ISBN-13: 978-1555531652
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #320,263 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous fact-based recounting of the Salem Witch Trials., October 22, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Salem-Village Witchcraft: A Documentary Record of Local Conflict in Colonial New England (Paperback)

This book is a collection of trial transcripts, maps, and other documents and information regarding the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. The most famous of witch trials, the hysteria is recaptured here for you to sort through yourself. This book is NOT a "story", but a valuable tool for doing your own research on the matter. Fabulous reading, wonderous facts, mysterious information, and education abound. Buy this book today!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a GREAT Research Tool!, May 27, 2011

By 

JohnnyK (Sapulpa, OK) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Salem-Village Witchcraft: A Documentary Record of Local Conflict in Colonial New England (Paperback)

Transcripts of the trials and maps to locations mentioned make this an invaluable tool for researching the Witch Hysteria of 1692. Excellent work and very informative!

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Salem Whodunnit, August 22, 2004

By 

Bob Crispen (Decatur, AL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Salem-Village Witchcraft: A Documentary Record of Local Conflict in Colonial New England (Paperback)

Why did the sober New England residents of Salem suddenly find witches in their midst? And why Salem and not, say, Williamsburg? Historians answer questions like these by going to the original documents, and that's exactly what you have here: the original documents, edited into modern English.

Along the way you'll discover conflicts between Salem and Salem Village, a congregation that wasn't allowed to have a church, personal conflicts and jealousy and revenge, and even a hint of a land grab.

But you have to figure out the answers for yourself. All the clues are in your hands. All you have to do is put them together and make sense of them. Later on, you can read Salem Possessed by the same authors and see what professional historians can tease from this data. That was a humbling experience, but I wouldn't have missed doing my own detective work for the world.