Salem Story Reading the Witch Trials of 1692

This book provides an engaging re-examination of the Salem witch trials of 1692.

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.

1. Dark Eve; 2. The girls of Salem; 3. Boys and girls together; 4. June 10, 1692; 5. July 19, 1692; 6. August 19, 1692; 7. George Burroughs and the Mathers; 8. September 22, 1692; 9. Assessing an inextricable storm; 10. Salem story.

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. Rosenthal paints a picture of Salem where healthy accusers use rational strategies, and are not at all the hysterical creatures of popular myth.