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Salem Story: Reading the Witch Trials of 1692: 73
Author(s): Bernard Rosenthal (Author)
- Publisher: Cambridge University Press
- Publication Date: 18 Nov. 2010
- Edition: Revised ed.
- Language: English
- Print length: 302 pages
- ISBN-10: 0521558204
- ISBN-13: 9780521558204
Book Description
Salem Story engages the story of the Salem witch trials by contrasting an analysis of the surviving primary documentation with the way events of 1692 have been mythologised by our culture. Resisting the temptation to explain the Salem witch trials in the context of an inclusive theoretical framework, the book examines a variety of individual motives that converged to precipitate the witch-hunt. Of the many assumptions about the Salem witch trials, the most persistent is that they were instigated by a circle of hysterical girls. Through an analysis of what actually happened – by perusal of the primary materials with the ‘close reading’ approach of a literary critic – a different picture emerges, one where ‘hysteria’ inappropriately describes the logical, rational strategies of accusation and confession followed by the accusers, males and females alike.
Editorial Reviews
Review
‘The author’s reflections on Salem’s continuing symbolic resonance, make Salem Story thoroughly rewarding’. The Times Literary Supplement
Book Description
This book provides an engaging re-examination of the Salem witch trials of 1692.
