The Salem Witch Trials Reader
Frances Hill
Against the backdrop of a Puritan theocracy threatened by change, in a population terrified not only of eternal damnation but of the earthly dangers of Indian massacres and recurrent smallpox epidemics, a small group of girls denounces a black slave and others as worshipers of Satan. Within two years, twenty men and women are hanged or pressed to death and over a hundred others imprisoned and impoverished. In The Salem Witch Trials Reader, Frances Hill provides and astutely comments upon the actual documents from the trial--examinations of suspected witches, eyewitness accounts of "Satanic influence," as well as the testimony of those who retained their reason and defied the madness. Always drawing on firsthand documents, she illustrates the historical background to the witchhunt and shows how the trials have been represented, and sometimes distorted, by historians--and how they have fired the imaginations of poets, playwrights, and novelists. For those fascinated by the Salem witch trials, this is compelling reading and the sourcebook.
Tags: History | American History | Witches | Witch Trials | Massachusetts | Religion | Feminism | Research | Sources | Witchcraft
年:
2009
版本:
2
出版商:
Da Capo Press
語言:
english
頁數:
442
ISBN 10:
0786748389
ISBN 13:
9780786748389
文件:
EPUB, 5.16 MB
IPFS:
,
english, 2009