A storm of witchcraft : the Salem trials and the American experience / Emerson W. Baker.
Baker, Emerson W., author.
2015
KFM2478.8.W5 B35 2015eb
Available Online

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Title A storm of witchcraft : the Salem trials and the American experience / Emerson W. Baker.
Author Baker, Emerson W., author.
ISBN 9780199890354 (electronic book)
0199890358 (electronic book)
132204533X (electronic book)
9781322045337 (electronic book)
9780199890347
019989034X
Published New York : Oxford University Press, [2015]
Language English
Description 1 online resource (xv, 398 pages) : illustrations.
Call Number KFM2478.8.W5 B35 2015eb
Dewey Decimal Classification 345.744/50288
Summary "Beginning in January 1692, Salem Village in colonial Massachusetts witnessed the largest and most lethal outbreak of witchcraft in early America. Villagers--mainly young women--suffered from unseen torments that caused them to writhe, shriek, and contort their bodies, complaining of pins stuck into their flesh and of being haunted by specters. Believing that they suffered from assaults by an invisible spirit, the community began a hunt to track down those responsible for the demonic work. The resulting Salem Witch Trials, culminating in the execution of 19 villagers, persists as one of the most mysterious and fascinating events in American history. Historians have speculated on a web of possible causes for the witchcraft that stated in Salem and spread across the region-religious crisis, ergot poisoning, an encephalitis outbreak, frontier war hysteria--but most agree that there was no single factor. Rather, as Emerson Baker illustrates in this seminal new work, Salem was "a perfect storm": a unique convergence of conditions and events that produced something extraordinary throughout New England in 1692 and the following years, and which has haunted us ever since. Baker shows how a range of factors in the Bay colony in the 1690s, including a new charter and government, a lethal frontier war, and religious and political conflicts, set the stage for the dramatic events in Salem. Engaging a range of perspectives, he looks at the key players in the outbreak--the accused witches and the people they allegedly bewitched, as well as the judges and government officials who prosecuted them--and wrestles with questions about why the Salem tragedy unfolded as it did, and why it has become an enduring legacy."--Amazon.com viewed on October 9, 2014.
Bibliography, etc. Note Includes bibliographical references and index.
Access Note Access limited to authorized users.
Source of Description Description based on print version record.
Series Pivotal moments in American history.
Available in Other Form Storm of witchcraft
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Record Appears in Online Resources > Ebooks
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Introduction: An old valueless cabinet
Satan's storm
The city upon a hill
Drawing battle lines in Salem Village
The aflicted
The accused
The judges
An inextinguishable flame
Salem end
Witch City?
Appendices.

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