To construct her history, Schiff went through the looking glass, compiling seemingly every fact available to create a historically accurate narrative of events while placing it within the cultural context of 17th century New England. It can't have been easy: As Schiff points out early in the book, the Puritans of Salem village were often assiduous diarists and record-keepers, but first-hand accounts of the months of the hysteria are mysteriously rare-and those that exist are mainly unreliable. The town is pitted against itself, and by the time the hysteria fades, 19 men and women are hanged, another pressed to death.īut what actually happened? Pulitzer Prize-winner Stacy Schiff's The Witches: Salem, 1692 steps back from more than three centuries of hyperbole and supposition, giving us our most complete account yet. Lacking other explanations-adolescent rebellion, maybe?-Satanic influence is suspected, and accusations of witchcraft soon fly like enchanted broomsticks. Everyone knows the story: The pre-teen daughters of the local minister are mysteriously overcome by convulsions, their uncontrollable screaming sending the superstitious community into fear and confusion. An Amazon Best Book of November 2015: In 1692, at the edge of the New England wilderness, an entire village went insane.
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