@article{327022,
      recid = {327022},
      author = {Norton, Mary Beth.},
      title = {In the devil's snare : the Salem witchcraft crisis of 1692  /},
      publisher = {Vintage Books,},
      address = {New York :},
      pages = {436 p. ;},
      year = {2003},
      note = {Originally published: New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2002.},
      abstract = {In January 1692 in Salem Village, Massachusetts, two young  girls began to suffer from inexplicable fits. Seventeen  months later, after legal action had been taken against 144  people, 20 of them put to death, the ignominious Salem  witchcraft trials finally came to an end. Mary Beth Norton  gives us a unique account of the events at Salem, helping  us to understand them as they were understood by those who  lived through the frenzy. Describing the situation from a  seventeenth-century perspective, Norton examines the  crucial turning points, the accusers, the confessors, the  judges, and the accused, among whom were thirty-eight men.  She shows how the situation spiraled out of control  following a cascade of accusations beginning in mid-April.  She explores the role of gossip and delves into the  question of why women and girls under the age of  twenty-five, who were the most active accusers and who  would normally be ignored by male magistrates, were  suddenly given absolute credence. Norton moves beyond the  immediate vicinity of Salem to demonstrate how the Indian  wars on the Maine frontier in the last quarter of that  century stunned the collective mindset of northeastern New  England and convinced virtually everyone that they were in  the devil's snare. And she makes clear that ultimate  responsibility for allowing the crisis to reach the heights  it did must fall on the colony's governor, council, and  judges.},
      url = {http://library.usi.edu/record/327022},
}