Salem witchcraft will always have a magnetic pull on the American psyche. During the 1692 witch trials, more than 150 people were arrested. An estimated 25 million Americans-including author Diane Foulds-are descended from the twenty individuals executed. What happened to our ancestors? Death in Salem is the first book to take a clear-eyed look at this complex time, by examining the lives of the witch trial participants from a personal perspective. Massachusetts settlers led difficult lives; every player in the Salem drama endured hardships barely imaginable today. Mercy Short, one of the "bewitched" girls, watched as Indians butchered her parents; Puritan minister Cotton Mather outlived all but three of his fifteen children. Such tragedies shaped behavior and, as Foulds argues, ultimately played a part in the witch hunt's outcome. A compelling "who's who" to Salem witchcraft, Death in Salem profiles each of these historical personalities as it asks: Why was this person targeted?
- ISBN10 0762784970
- ISBN13 9780762784974
- Publish Date 6 August 2013 (first published 1 January 2013)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country US
- Publisher Rowman & Littlefield
- Imprint Globe Pequot Press
- Format Paperback (US Trade)
- Pages 288
- Language English