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A Delusion of Satan: The Full Story Of The Salem Witch Trials
A Delusion of Satan The Full Story Of The Salem Witch Trials Author:Frances Hill This compelling study of the horrific Salem Witch Trials--the first of its kind in over forty-five years--draws strength from new psychological insights into the roots of the hysteria that spurred the witch hunts of the late 1600s, and links them to the contemporary "witch hunts"... more »; of the twentieth century.
For more than three hundred years, the hysteria that gripped Massachusetts during the Salem witch trials of the late 1600s has fascinated readers worldwide. Now acclaimed British writer Frances Hill has applied contemporary psychology to the Salem phenomenon and come up with startling results. Why were nearly all of the "afflicted" people women? What kind of mentality did the Puritans possess to place a four-year-old child in prison? What were the politics behind the witch hunts and trials, and what similarities exist in the witch hunts of the twentieth century (for example, the "witch hunts" of the McCarthy era)? In A Delusion Of Satan, Frances Hill answers these questions and many more in a conversational and frighteningly realistic narrative as she maps out details of the witch trials and subsequent hangings-information never revealed before. Discipline, morality, and intellectual rigor-these are all attributes that Puritanism bequeathed to the New World. Unfortunately, along with them came a tendency to regard an enemy as beneath empathy and deserving destruction. A Delusion Of Satan reminds the reader that these impulses, lurking in all people, can only be countered by constant reminders of common humanity.« less
Jeanne L. (bkydbirder) - , reviewed A Delusion of Satan: The Full Story Of The Salem Witch Trials on
Well researched but harrowing. How sad that life was the way it was under the Puritans. I learned a lot from this book about the life styles, mores and religious expectations at the time. The style of writing made it easy to read - much like a novel. Such a very sad time in our history but if anyone wants to know just what happened in Salem at the time of the "witch hunts", this is the book!
layle1 reviewed A Delusion of Satan: The Full Story Of The Salem Witch Trials on
While well-researched, this account of the Salem witch trials suffers from the author's speculations at times. The biggest problem facing all writers of this incident in our history is the dearth of personal accounts. Puritan society, by and large, was not made up of diarists, so all feelings and sources of behavior attributed to the participants -- both accused and accusers -- typically fit the writer's theory du jour. Hill briefly addresses previous writers' theories, either to burst them or enfold them into her own that the psychological condition of hysteria overtook the town and allowed certain citizens to make power grabs and/or get rid of undesired villagers. She makes a strong case, but the reader should keep a weather eye on the references in the back to weed out the supposition from the facts. As another reviewer notes, it often "reads like a novel." I think this is the first indication that the facts may have been construed to the benefit of the belief.
Beyond what, for me, was the distraction of the author's transference, the book is still a solid and easily read account of that winter's horror. It includes contextual information about Puritan society overall, and some of the tensions within the village. Here, though, the author alludes to conflicts culled from official papers. She leaves you wanting for details she doesn't have, and then interprets the sparse facts to bolster her theory. It's possible her interpretation is correct, but without personal accounts to support the official documents one cannot be sure.
This is neither a definitive account nor a specious interpretation of the facts. It languishes somewhere in the middle of all the different texts, as a short, easily digestible chronicle. Hill's 2002 preface also provides a window into her mindset at the time of the mid-nineties writing.
Interesting reading and a very comprehensive treatment of the evidence and historical events, which is surprisingly difficult to find given the general interest in the topic, but be prepared for lots of rhetoric about how hysterical women were largely responsible. A recent theory, which I am more inclined to believe, states that ergot poisoning may have caused some of the more extreme symptoms, which then led to a witch hunt. This seems much more credible to me than this author's psychoanalysis of some of the persons involved, but it's a good general overview. On the plus side, the book discusses in depth some of the town politics that made it an environment ripe for such a tragedy, even if the viewpoint is rather one sided.